Jumper Naruto
by InvertNaruto
Summary: The Yondaime created the Hiraishin, but what if it turned into a bloodline that awoke in Naruto, allowing him to Jump from one place to another as long as he was there before and has chakra to fuel the jumps.
1. Chapter 1

**Jumper Naruto**

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Jumper and Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. If I was, Naruto would be stronger (half way betwean Kishis' Naruto and Sasuke) and posesed an averige inteligence of the Narutoverse instead of being an orange wearing idiot that he is portrayed as in Part I (don't even get me started on all the bull of Part II) **

This is my first story so please don't flame to much. English isn't my first language so forgive me some slip ups. I'm doing all I can to avoid errors but some may get past me. Sice I have read storys where spelling was really horrible I'm doing all I can to avoid that, so any error I make wont be a great eyesore. Since this is AU some things will change like the Kumo delegation arriveing when Hinata is 5 instead of 3 since Naruto was born a few hours earlyer meaning more Konoha Shinobi survived Kyuubi's assault and Konoha had more forces to keep Kumo at bay, Kimimaro saving an injured girl from his clan and running off in a direction that won't cross paths with Orochimaru again and ending up in Wave until Team 7 bring them to Konoha with them or some thing like that. 

"Character talking"

'Character thinking'

"**Kyuubi/Summon Talking"**

'_Flashback'_

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**Chapter 1: Origins of Power**

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Namikaze Minato, Konohas Yondaime Hokage, the man whose talent in the arts of sealing enabled him to create a jutsu so uniqe that gave him an almost Godlike power that even he himself could not grasp the extent of it's abilities and consequences of its creation. The **"Hiraishin no jutsu"** that earned him the nickname "Konoha's Yellow Flash" allowed him instantly travel betwean seal markers. However, this technique when used emited bursts of space-time radiation that, while not being harmful to the user, interacted with the users chakra changeing it and attuneing it to the space-time forces operateing the jutsu. The more one used the technique the greater the radiations influence on the users chakra. A prolonged exposure to it changed the very nature of the users chakra resulting in a completly new form of chakra – Hiraishin chakra. This new chakra had a golden colour when flared ( think Goku when he goes Super Saiyan ) and channeling it through the body allowed the user to speed up and dislocate himself from normal timeflow. The user sees things in a slowed down state but is able to move normaly, while to outsiders he suddenly sped up 50 to 100 times his normal speed ( think of it like Bullit time from The Matrix ). This new chakra also allowed to use the **"Hiraishin no jutsu" **without the special three pronged kunai – the only requirements were: chakra, having the destination in sight or having been in that place before, so the greater the distance the more chakra was needed to perform the jump. Small jumps within a 10 mile limit weren't very exhausting to a person with Jounin level chakra reserves while a jump from Konoha to Suna, Kiri, Kumo, or Iwa could even make a Kage risk death by chakra exhaustion ( 10 miles is an easy jump "N" but for a 100 miles jump the chakra requirement will be 10N 1 so instead of useing 10 times the chakra you end up usenig more than that hence the danger of chakra exhaustion). The last two benefits of this chakra are: the ability to reverse time on injuries when used as a medical jutsu (like Orihime's powers from Bleach) as well as an increased resistance to Genjutsu – The stronger the Genjutsu, the higher the chakra's resistance to the illusion: low level ones like D-rank Genjutsu will most likely capture you in the illusion but you will be feeling a tingling that is a sighn of a power strugle betwean the Hiraishin chakra and the Genjutsu casters chakra that is anchoring itself on to you. With higher level illusions things will become blurry ( C-rank to B-rank) or the jutsu won't anchor itself to you or be reflected to the caster ( B-rank, A-rank or S-rank).

The birth of this new chakra could change the fate of a person, and since fate loves to stick it's nose into destinys buissness – it did. When Minato found out his wife Kushina was pregnant he did what every selfrespecting man would do in his place – he fainted. After he regained conciousness he was crazy with joy for weeks and begun preparations. Unknown to him the Hiraishin chakra that was transfered to his son begun reforming parts of Naruto's DNA to be able to sustain itself, in essence createing the first carrier of a new chakra based Kekkei Genkai like the Hatake's white chakra or First Hokage's Mokuton ( a fusion chakra element of Suiton and Doton natured chakra) and the Hyouton creation bloodline belonging to a clan in Water country (a fusion of Suiton and Fuuton natured chakra). The Yondaime like every father was a very happy man to know that he will have a son to pass down his most prized techniques and begun to writte down several scrolls containing firstly the most rare of jutsu that he knows and later jutsu that could be tought to a Genin or Chunin. Being a sealmaster he did not forget to writte down things that weren't available in books contained in Konoha's librarys. While there were many scrolls on the basics of Fuuinjutsu and some on advanced knowledge on sealing there weren't enough detailed information on what would happen if one did this or that.

Many of the scrolls simply said to this or that, not always explaining what would happen if one were to do things a bit differently, so some time ago he begun work on a book that would explain Fuuinjutsu much better than sources available in librarys. He had been workig on it since before he was appointed as Yondaime and thanks to occasional help from his sensei Jiraiya he had finished detailed explanations on the basics and was nearing the completion of the chapter on advanced sealing. Since he had Kage bunshin going over his daily paperwork he had time to spare to visit his wife and have a clone working on the book that will be complte barely two months before Naruto will be born. He included several seals that he made like a chakra reservouir seal that he has been working on in his spare time when he wasn't occupied with other tasks, as well as a seal that Jiraiya found notes on that increased a persons body weight to help in training. But most of all he made a scroll containing his best jutsu: **Rasengan **and** The Hiraishin **allong with a sword he orderd from Takumi no sato that could: extend itself like Kusanagi the sword of Orochimaru the Snake Sannin, channel the owners chakra that made it deadly if it was a wind user like himself or his wife and absorb the enemys chakra.

Than terrible news came – one of the nine great demon lords, the Kyuubi no Kitsune was approaching Konoha. He knew what he had to do and it saddened Minato that he won't be able to see his son grow up, but at least he would have his mother and the scrolls that he will leave with the Sandaime and Jiraiya to give them to Naruto when they think he will be able to use them safely. And on that fateful october day the Yondaime gave his life to call upon the power of the Death God to rip the soul from the demons' body and seal it away in his son. Unfortunetly his wife Kushina died not to long after him, whether she died due to complications or foul play remains unknown.

**Author's note:**

Sorry if the chapter is a bit on the boring side but I wanted to introduce the whole Jumper concept and how it came to be and keep it as much as realistic and in accordance to the laws of Narutoverse. After all the manga doesn't say how bloodlines came into existance. Some could be a result of a contract with a lesser demon or results of sealing it in a human. Some may be a simple genetic mutation or results of a Jutsu going differently than expected, so that is what I did. Now I kow what you're thining: Another Naruto gets a bloodline and is anle to beat a Jounin when he passes the academy exam. Yes he will be stronger than in canon, but Itachi and Kakashi were Jounin or ANBU by that age, and you cant deny that some of the credit goes to the Sharingan- I mean come on a guy can steal and learn Jutsu fast with that thing: why else would Orochimaru want it. Bloodline carriers usualy become strong more often, but that doesn't mean that aperson without one can't be strong, after all Sandaime, Jiraiya, Tsunade and others were one of the more powerful shinobi. And Naruto has no one to teach him how to use that power. He will be forced to use the trial and error method. The Jumps will be an instinctual thing so it will happen and that's how they learn of it . The "Matrix Bullit Time" will be discovered when they try to channel chakra like other ninja to gain speed. Genjutsu resistance when trying to learn genjutsu or learn to detect it and break it. Medical Jutsu thing when learning some basic stuff for first aid. Thay will discover things as the right moments present themselves. It all depends on chance. Naruto learned of the Fox because he flunked the test, if he had seen a genin practicing Tree walking he could ask Iruka or the Hokage about it and that could lead to him learning a different clone jutsu or Kage bunshin from Sandaime and pass, or have just enough chakra control to pass the bunshin test by a fluke. So just because he gets a Bloodline that allows him to Hiraishin where he wants at a cost of chakra if he can do it like he can use Shadow clones than it's enough, after all no one but Iwa complained when Blondaime could Flash all over the battlefield and kill hundreds of Rockheads why cant his son .


	2. The awakening

**Chapter 2: The awakening**

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After his parents' death it has been decided that Naruto would be placed in the care of one of the orphanages in Konoha instead of being killed like some of the councilmen wanted, most notably Uchiha Fugaku Head of the Uchiha clan, nor turned into a living weapon like Danzo a councilman and Sarutobi's rival for the position of Hokage. The information about the Kyuubi being imprisoned in Naruto was to be an S-rank village secret and no one was allowed to speak of it under death penelity. To make sure that Naruto was safe the orphanage selected was closest to the Hokage tower so that ANBU protection would have an easier time in guarding the boy, and that the Sandaime could visit the child without problems. Even though Naruto was well looked after, the caretakers too afraid that the Hokage would throw them in prison at best, have them executed for child abuse at worst (since the First Hokage made strict laws protecting children), his life wasnt a happy one. The children wouldnt play with him because they mimicked the behaviour of adaults, and not even daily visits from Hokage-jiji would change that he felt lonely. The only times that the Hokage didn't visit him were when he was busyer than normaly, which tended to be at least once a week, but Naruto would be told of that in advance so that he wouldn't worry. There were times when Naruto had trouble sleeping and on those times he sometimes could see dark figures with animal faces. When he asked the Hokage about them he was told that they were guardian spirits that look after children at night and that since he lives in the orphanage where there are lots of children their bound to be there. Half a year after Narutos 4 th birthday the Hokage would sometimes let Naruto watch him work in the office and bring him to the park and tell storys, but that didn't help to ease Naruto's lonelines much and he always felt a cold shiver crawl down his back and cought glimpses of the look pepole would give him. The best day ever for Naruto was his 5 th birthday when the Hokage took him to some restaurant stall called "Ichiraku's Ramen", he fell in love with with it after the first bite. Since then he could be seen there every day at lunch time. Six weeks later a new festival was held because of the sighning of a piece treaty ending a long war betwean Konoha and Kumo. On the day fo the festival Naruto went to look around, though he avoided pepole when he could because of the stares they gave him. Though Naruto did his best to avoid trouble some drunk villagers thought it would be fun to chase around the 'demon brat', and Naruto ended up getting lost. As he walked the streets of the village trying to find a place he knew Naruto ended up walking til it got dark. It was over half past ten and Naruto wasn't back, so the caretakets at the orphanage got worried, not about Naruto but themselves. If something happened to the brat the Hokage could throw them in jail or worse, beleving that they had something to do with it, unless they informed him right away. When the Sandaime got word that Naruto went to see the festival and wasn't back yet he called a few ANBU that weren't to busy to look for him while he himself used his crystal ball to scout around the village. Naruto got more and more worried by the minute since it was dark already and he was never outside so long after dark, when he turned a corner and saw a man with a bag slumped over his shoulder. Interested Naruto gets a bit closer when he thought he saw the bag move and spoke up:

"Hey mister what do you have in the bag?"

The man turned and looked at him.

"Get lost brat before I hurt you."

Naruto saw the bag move again and remembered hearing that some pepole capture other pepole and kidnapp them to demand money from the persons family so he yelled.

"You're a kidnapper. HELP KIDNAPPER, SOMEBODY HELP!!!!."

"You stupid brat, die."

The man ran up to him so quickly that Naruto barely had time to yell anymore. He grabbed Naruto by the neck and started to choke him. Scared out of his mind Naruto started to panic and tried to get the man's hand off his neck, but was to weak to do so. At the same time two ANBU dispached to look for Naruto returned to report that they haven't found him in their search areas. Sarutobi was about to dispach them to a new location when he found Naruto in his crystal ball, and what he saw terrified him. He found Naruto near the Hyuuga district with a man chokeing him to death when something that he hadn't seen in a few years happened.

Naruto unable to free himself begun to lose concioussness when a funny fealing overcame him, and thinking he was about to die his thoughts ran to the Hokage who was probably in the tower now and didn't kow what was going on. The strange fealing intensified and a thought about the Hokages office came to Naruto when things got weird and a light flashed before him and he found himself in the middle of the Hokage's office with two strange men in animal masks and the Sandaime.

Sarutobi couldn't belive what he was seeing, first he sees Naruto about to be killed by some man and the next thing he knows the same scene is happening in front of him... in his office.

The man temporerly distracted blinked a few times before he noticed the change of sorroundings and then felt a blade on his neck and heard an emotionless monotone voice.

"Let go of the boy, drop the bag and lift your hands high. Don't try anything or you're dead."

The man knew that even if he somehow survived, he was a dead man either way since he failed the Raikage's orders to capture the Byakugan for Kumo. He did what he was told and tryed to swallow a hidden suicide pill when the other ANBU hit him in the back of the head and knocked him out. While checking if Naruto was allright Sarutobi turned to one of the ANBU.

"Check him for weapons and any means of takeing his life, tham take him to Ibiki for questioning."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

The ANBU took the man and Sunshined out of the office. The other ANBU opened the bag and found agirl about five years old that was struggling to free herself. But what cought his attention most were her pale lavendar eyes- a cleaar sighn she was a member of the Main branch of the Hyuuga clan since she had no mark on her forehead.

"Lord Hokage, the bag contained a Hyuuga child. It was clearly a kidnapping attempt"

"It would seem that the Kumo delegation wanted to use the treaty as a distraction, and when we were busy they would have an easier time stealing the Byakugan." He turned to the ANBU "Inform Ibiki that the prisoner MUST live till we get the Kumo delegation here. When they get here I want 4 ANBU teams here just in case they try something."

"As you wish Lord Hokage." And with that he went to the ANBU Torture and Interrogation division.

Sarutobi exited his office and told one of the Chuunin to to tell Hyuuga Hiashi to come to his office immediatly. Returning to his office he couldn't help but think that Naruto somehow was able to perform the **"Hiraishin no jutsu" **just like that, without any kunai or seal marker. He wold have to investigate this further, afterall neither of Naruto's parents posesed any sort of bloodline and he deffinetly never heard of one that would allow a person to teleport from the Hyuuga compound straight to his office. "I'll have to ask Naruto about this situation, he might give some clues as to what is happening. One thing is certain it wasn't The Kyuubis doing, if it was we would have felt it's power."

When he opened the door he saw the Hyuuga girl sitting on a chair and Naruto still out on the couch. The girl is most likely Hiashi's daughter.

'This just might help Naruto out a bit with the Hyuuga clan, or at least Hiashi.'

Just a few minutes later Hyuuga Hiashi and this twin brother Hizashi busted into his office.

"Hokage-sama, My daughter has been kidnapped and you summon me here now of all times!."

"Calm down Hiashi, your daughter is safe here in my office, but more importantly, you should be thanking Naruto-kun for saveing her from her captor. Unfortunetly he has yet to regain concioussness."

"I see, do you know who the culprit is."

"Yes, it would seem that the Kumo delegation were useing the piece treaty as a diversion so that they could abduct a Main house Hyuuga"

"This will most certainly cause problems. I should return Hinata home. Please give my thanks to Naruto-san when he wakes up. Good night Hokage-sama."

An hour after Hyuuga Hiashi, Naruto woke up.

"Ugh, what happened, where am I, ugh my hea hurst."

"It's good to see you're allright Naruto-kun."

"Ji-chan, what happened, how did I end up here?"

"That is what I'd like to know as well. Tell me what is the last thing you remember?"

"Well, I got lost and was walking around to find some place i knew to get back, when I saw a man with a bag and I yelled whem the bag was moveing. He grabed me by the nack and things started to go black. Just before I passed out I felt all tingly and weird, than I remembered your office and the next thing I know I wake up here."

"Thank you Naruto-kun I beleave I know what happened but I'm not entirely sure. I will need to have a doctor examine you to make sure you're fine, as well as to get more answers that could help us determine what exactly happened, but for now get some sleep and we'll take care of everything in the morning."

The next day Sarutobi called in his most trusted medic-nin to look over Naruto for any abnormalities. What they found was a difference in his chakra that didn't match Naruto's chakra signature from the examination Naruto underwent six weeks ago after his 5 th birthday. Sarutobi and the doctor went outside and

"That's very interesting, you say it's a chakra abnormality, and that it's not connected to Naruto's 'condition'?"

" Hai Hokage-sama, traces of this strange chakra are still present and I can safely say that it deffinetly doesn't belong to Kyuubi. I beleave it's the boy's own chakra that somehow changes it's properties to allow him to, from whar you told me, travel near instantly from place to place. The only thing I can compare it to is Yondaime-sama's **"Hiraishin no jutsu"**, but to be able to do that one would need the special seal formula that only one person knew, and he's dead. There is no possibility that Naruto could know it, so I have no idea how he as able to perform it to get to your office. I dont think Naruto even knows how to channel chakra let alone change it's nature, though I must say that he has more chakre than an academy student. If his chakra reserves keep growing at this rate by graduation from the academy he could have the reserves of a Chuunin or possibly a Jounin."

"Thank you for this information doctor. It would seem that Naruto will have to learn advanced chakra control excercises while still in the academy. Some might call it playing favoritesbut if his reserves keep growing like that, and beacuse of Kyuubi I beleave they will, having such large reserves and barely any controll over them could be a great hinderence to Naruto. About Naruto's chakra and the similarities to the Hiraishin is now an S-rank secret, that you can only discuss with me. Please check the blood samples for any connections to Naruto's condition, I will lok over the notes Yodaime left with his observations on the effects of useing that technique. Who knows, there may be some clues to what is happening to Naruto."

"Understood Hokage-sama, if I find out anything I'll inform you immedietly."

Haveing finished debreafing the doctor Sarutobi went back to Naruto.

"Well Naruto we know that whatever happened to you is linked to your chakra, so we'll start you off a bit earlier than expected. Originaly I wanted you to attend the academy next year but because of recent developments and your large chakra reserves I've decided to teach you some thigs earlier and enter you to the academy at the age of 9 so you can have a chance to get to know those who you might be on a team with as well as try to make some friends."

"Really, you'er gonna teach me!?"

"Yes, but I wont be able to do it all the time, so I'll have someone to teach you when I can't."

"Sugoi, I'm gona be the best ninja there is, dattebayo!"

**Author's notes:**

Well that's end of chapter two. Took 3 days to write cuz I had schoolwork to write too. So Naruto finaly did it (at the age of 5 because the guy from Jumper did it first time when he was 5). Naruto will enter at the age of 9 instead of 6 (the age for non-clan kids since they have to learn stuff that clans cover for their kids) because he needs to learn to control this ability so there wont be any accidents like disapearing from school and into a meating with a Jounin giving a mission report.) The next chapter I think will be Naruto entering the academy and maybe if you kids are good I'll add some flashbacks with some of Narutos training. I saw the latest chapter of the manga and I'm dissapointed with Itachis performance/ No way that Sasuke could get so strong in barely 3 years, even with absorbing Orochimaru. This is total Bull that Sasuke is so strong and he doest get hurt by chidori nagashi it's lightning going threw his body and Naruto cant use his bet attack because he can lose an arm. What gives!?. Naruto just got a bigger Rasengan and can break some genjutsu (and possibly seal stuff in a scroll) but he's still a stupid hot-head (you'd think Jiraiya made him calm down a bit but nooo), and he cant use Kyuubis power because it kills him slowly and his seal was weakened by Ero-sennin on delibretly so he could use more of the fox's power. What did they do for 2,5 year???????


	3. Introduction to destruction

**Authors Note: I'm currently thinking on the subject of pairings. Personaly I'm a Hinata fan. Many of us tend to like her because she was always nice to him but her idiot father and ignorant clan ( she was shy but nowhere near as much as normaly in the series). Ino is another option I like. Though she is a realy big Fan-girl in the begining, I get the impression that she does this sometimes to motivate Sakura into gaining more confidence in herself (unfortunetly this doesn't turn out that well) but compared to Sakura she isn't so useless to her team (in fact she motivates them into moveing their behinds) and her personality is a bit like Naruto's. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Thanks for reading and comment on the things I could improve in my writing. And if someone wants in as a beta write it in your review. Thanks.**

**Chapter 3: Introduction to destruction**

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**5 years later: Academy gates**

A 10 year old Naruto stood outside the Academy with an uneasy fealing in his stomach.

"Ahh what the hell I have to go there wheter I like it or not."

As he walked the corridors of the academy Naruto kept thinking about the conversation he had with The Hokage the day before.

_Flashback_

_Naruto was waiting in front of the Hokage's office, busy wondering why he was summoned, when he was supposed to meet Yamato-sensei for training 20 minutes ago. His thoughts were inerrupted when the door opened, revealing a smiling Sarutobi. _

"_Hello Naruto, it's good to see you, please come in."_

_When Naruto seated himself the Sandaime turned to him._

"_Naruto perhaps you are wondering why I summoned you here. Five years ago when your abilities manifested themselves I decided not to enter you into the academy, to give you time to adapt and test your powers. The training you had with myself, Yamato, Gai and Kakashi is sufficient enough to allow you to join this year, and from my observations I would place you as a strong Gennin, possibly a low level Chuunin. The only things you're lacking you will learn in the academy, not to mention you'll have a chance to make friends with the other students."_

"_But jiji what about my training, wont I be allowed to practice with Yamato-sensei or Gai-sense?"i_

"_If you're worried about not being able to train, than you dont have to. I'm sure that Gai or Kakashi would find some time to train with you, but Yamato will be to busy with his own duties to help you out."_

_Flashback end._

"Room 108, guess I'm here." With that he knocked on the door, soon after he heard lots of noise and deffinetly the teacher yelling at the students to keep quiet. The door opened revealing a man with a scar across his nose.

"Yes, can I help you?"

With that Naruto presented a note he got from the Hokage.

"So you're the new student Hokage-sama toldme about?" the man saw Naruto nod in confirmation "I'm Iruka and I'll be your sensei, so follow me and I'll introduce to the class."

As Naruto entered the class, he instantly felt everyone's eyes were set on him and his nervousness returned only much more intensive. Seeing the boy scared stiff Iruka coughed to get the class's attention.

"Now that I have your attention, class this is Uzumaki Naruto, and he will be attending to lessons with us for the remaining two years until the graduation exam."

"But Irika-sensei why does he get to join late when we had to start years ago?" Yelled a pink haired girl.

"It's very simple Sakura. Children from clans either join a bit later, because some of the things we teach here are covered by tutors from clans. According to what Hokage-sama told me Naruto had some chakra related problems and needed help overcomeing them. Right now from what I've been told he has more chakra than me because of those problems, and if he hadn't been given help than his chakra control would have suffered. Now, Naruto please take a seat next to Shikamaru."

Iruka notices that Naruto doesn't know where to go and quickly spots the problem.

"SHIKAMARU WAKE UP !!!!!!!" Iruka yelled and threw an eraser at him.

'This is so troublesome, I bet he'll start asking lots of troublesome questions' thought the Nara.

Naruto walked up to the desk at the back of the class and took his seat in the same row as Shikamaru and a plump kid next to him.

"Hey, I'm Naruto."

"So troublesome, Shikamaru Nara." Naruto looked at him starangely.

"Don't mind him -munch, munch- he's always like that, I'm Chouji."

And so the class went by quickly with the boys talking a bit when Iruka wasn't looking, or sleaping in Sikamarus' case. At lunch time everyone went outside to eat and Naruto joined Shikamaru and Chouji under a tree. Naruto and Chouji were talking a bit about others in class and discussing the valors of Ramen and BBQ, leaving the Nara to his cloud waching, when a raven haired boy started walking up to them. From chouju Naruto learned that the boy was Uchiha Sasuke, the survivor of the Uchiha massacre.

"Dobe, fight me." Demanded the Uchiha. And as soon those words were spoken all the kids in the courtyard began to gather around them.

Naruto just smiled. "Say what?"

"You heard me dobe. I want you to fight me right here and now."

"Why would I want to do that. Thats stupid."

"Please go away Sasuke and stop being so troublesome."(You know who.)

This infuriated the Uchiha. 'Who does that dobe think he is. I'm an Uchiha, an elite. How dare he ignore me!' thought Sasuke. On sheer instinct Sasuke launched himself at Naruto ready to punch him in the face.

Thanks to his training with Gai and his other senseis, Naruto was able to grab his opponents arm twisting it and threw Sasuke over his shoulder, sending the hot-headed Uchiha to the ground – Painfuly. Seeing ther 'precious Sasuke-kun' on the ground his fan-girls started screaching at Naruto that he hurt Sasuke-kun, most notably a pink haired harpy Sakura and a blonde with a ponytail, but were quickly silenced when Naruto spoke up clearly pissed.

"Don't _ever _attack me again Sasuke!" Naruto's tone was low and serious. "I don't have time for stupid little playground brawls. I came here to finish my training and graduate so I could become a ninja, as well as hopefully make some friends. I can most certainly say that I don't like you. I don't give a damn that you're an Uchiha, to me you are just an arrogant asshole who thinks he's better than others. I'll be going now, you made me lose my apetite."

With that he walked off towards the classroom. Sasuke lay there defeated and humiliated, with virtually the entire class to bear witness to it.

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Iruka looked out at the class as they took their seats. They was quite a bit more conversation going on that usual. He noticed that Sasuke was the last one to arrive. To his surprise a few of his students were pointing to him and seeming to make some jokes. Sasuke sat down and pointedly ignored the attention he was receiving. Once the kids settled down Iruka begun the history lecture, much to the dissplesure of some students. All in all the day passed peacefully.

On the way out a boy with a puppy on his head ran up to Naruto.

"Hey, I'm Kiba and this..."he said as he pointed to the puppy"...is Akamaru." We saw how you took out that idiot Uchiha, and I'd like to congratulate you on a job well done. You have no idea how hard it is to stand that guys constant brooding and all that noise those screaching banshees make hurts Akamaru's ears. You're O.K in our book so if you want we can be friends."

"Thank you Kiba, I'd like that, now if you excuse me I have to see a man about some Ramen." And with that Naruto ran out to you know where.(Ichiraku Ramen)

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On his way to Ichiraku's Naruto cought sight of that crazy snake lady Anko. A chill went down his spine everytime he remembers how he met her. Now he stays clear of her whenever he sees her, afterall he realy doesnt want to end up in the hospital again. The first time was a little accident realy, but how was he supposed to knoww that she would start throwing kunai and shuriken at him and have snakes try to eat him for bumping into her and makeing her drop her dango. He had nightmares for a month after that, and what's worse is that Gai had seen him running for his life and started yelling about how 'brightly his Flames of Youth were burning'. Though Naruto was able to withstand Gai or Anko, although barely, and I mean realy barely, even he wasn't able to withstand BOTH Gai and Anko at the same time without needing serious psyhological help later on. The good side of this incident, if you can call it a good side, was that Anko had been appointed as Naruto's temporary sensei – as punshment for inflicting a few non life threatening injuries on Naruto, as well as useing snakes to inject paralising poison. Naruto was stiff for 2 days after that one.

In the end they became friends or acuaintences on friendly terms, because of their pasts being similar. Anko, as Naruto learned later on, had lots of knowledge on traps, infiltration and anatomy. In a month he learned how to make some improvements to his traps, his ability to sneak into places and follow pepole- which Anko noticed he had a lot of talent for. The most painful part of his time spent with Anko were the taijutsu spars during wich Naruto got a first hand demonstration of the effectiveness of aiming for the pressure points to disable your opponent. Anko particularly loved those, though one can't say the same for Naruto who usualy lay in a painful position at the end of sparing practice. As a consolation prize for surviveing her training Anko tought him the **'Kanashibiri no jutsu'** after she was certain he could perform it safely.

Of cource there were times when she and Naruto's other senseis decided to unwind and got together for a poker night, and they brought Naruto along to play. That was two weeks after Anko decided to test Naruto's infiltration skills – by stealing Kakashis book. Who would have thought that the cyclopian ninja would go berserk over a little thing tike a book, well certainly not Anko, Genma, Asuma or Yamato.

The funniest part was when Kakashi decided to 'inspect' Anko and Naruto during their training, and since he was late he came in during their brake to see both of them engagen in a stareing contast while holding cards in their hands.

'_Flashback'_

Anko leaned over the young boy and glared at him. "You really think you have a chance against me brat?" She did her very best to seem menacing.

Naruto faced her with a calm façade, his blue eyes serene. "You don't scare me."

Kakashi grunted to gain their attention and when they kept ignoring him he sighed. "Anko what are you two doeing?"

"We're haveing a break what does it look like?"

"You're plaing _cards_ with him, I dont think that teaching a nine year old _gambling_ could be considered a brake."

"Gambling? Do you see any money?" In front of her was a small pile of candy. In front of Naruto was a slightly larger pile. Kakashi jist kept his lazy stare on Anko. Anko sighed and shoved all her candy into the space between her and Naruto. "O.k. Naruto let's make this the last hand. I'm all in."

Naruto shrugged. "O.k by me." He pushed his candy into the middle as well.

Anko chuckled and shook her head. "Naruto never play a hand just because the other person expects you to. You actually played pretty well but you lost everything on the very last hand." She put her cards down with a flourish.

"Full house, jacks over nines."

Naruto put his cards down. "Four sevens."

"What?!" She gawked at him. "But you didn't draw any cards!"

He again shrugged. "I got them at the start." Anko and kakashi stared at him. The odds of drawing four of a kind were about the same as winning the lottery. "What?" He began picking through his winnings for certain pieces of candy.

Kakashi was on the ground laughing. "Anko you just lost to a nine year old who has never played cards before."

'_Flashback end'_

The same thing happenad when they got Naruto to play with them at poker night. Naruto cleared out everyone, and everyone decided that Naruto wont be playing again, unless they bring in some suckers to clean out.

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The time in the academy went quickly for Naruto when he had Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba as friends, as well as being on friendly terms with Aburame Shino whom he met when one time when naruto was resting in an abandoned training field that turned out to be relatively close to the Aburame Clans property.

Sasuke and Naruto didn't get along well at all, in fact they ignored eachother as much as possible. Sasuke was always pissed that Naruto was able to beat him in Taijutsu spars, as well as equal to him in Ninjitsu and weaponds practice, though Sasuke had a fealing that Naruto was holding back, but he didn't know by how much. That only got the Uchiha brooding more since he kept thinking about how and where the dobe got this power. He clearly didn't deserve it as much as 'an Uchiha who had to avenge the death of his clan'.

Next week were the Gennin exams and everyone was nervous about their chances at passing, as well as who will be on their team (All the fan-girls wanting to be on a team with 'Sasuke-kun'). Some weren't all that nervous since they knew that they had their jutsu down and their textbook knowledge memorised. Others, like Shikamaru didn't bother with the whole anxiety thing because it was too troublesome.

The day of the exams finally came and it was buissness as usual: some pepole panicing, others excited, and some totaly indifferent like Shino. When Iruka and his assistant Mizuki entered the classroom everyone things got realy, realy tense.

"All right class we'll be begining the examinations now. When your name is listed you go to the examination room where you will perform 3 jutsu of the ninjutsu portion of the exam. I wish you good luck on your test."

Time went on and one by one each of the kids exited the room with a headband.

"Uzumaki Naruto" called out Iruka.

Naruto followed Iruka to the room.

"O.k Naruto please perform the Henge, Kawarami and 3 Bunshin."

Naruto turned into an exact copy of...GAI – green spandex, eyebrows and all.

Iruka was stunned..."Eee, good job Naruto."

Naruto than used the kawarami to swich places with a log and turned to Iruka.

"Ne Irika-sensei, does it have to be a Bunshin or can it be another kind of clone jutsu?"

"Well If you can do another kind than I suppose you can. There isnt any rule that a student can use a different kind of Bunshin."

With that Naruto performed 3 **'Kage bunshin"**.

Silnce was all that one could hear, as Iruka and Misuki sat htere with their jaws on the floor.

"Naruto where on earth did you learn that jutsu?"

"Hokage-jiji allowed me to learn it since I had too much chakra to perform an ordinary Bunshin."

"Well you pass Naruto-kun, Congratulations!"

With that Naruto and Iruka went out to the others and Iruka made an announcement.

"Congratulations on passing everybody. To all those who passed please come to the academy on Monday at 10.00 for Gennin placements." And with that everyone went home.

**Authors note:**

Well thats all for the pre-genin placements. Now things should be easyer to write since there are lots of stories begining from gennin placements so after reading lots of them, I think I can write longer chapters in the same time – hopefully.


	4. Bell hunting season is officially open

**Chapter 4: Bell hunting season is officially open.**

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Iruka kept working til late hours trying to sort out how to devide the 27 Gennin who passed the exams into well balanced teams. While normally that wouldn't be so problematic as it is in this case, Iruka couldn't use some of the guidelines that were available. While tradition dictates that the graduates with the highest and lowest scores be placed on the same team with one other person, whose scores were somewhere in the first half of the grades from best to worst, he was unable to use this combination since that would mean placeing Sasuke Uchiha with Nara Shikamaru, who even though lazy as hell strikes Iruka as a genius when it comes to strategy, and one other person. This is the place where things get tricky since the heads of the Akimichi, Nara and Yamanaka clans made it clear that they want their children placed on the same team: after all since the Ino-Shika-Cho combination worked in the past why bother change it, espetially when their fighting styles complement eachother so well. 'Well there goes that idea out the window' thought the Chuunin.

Than there is the problem with forming a reconnesance team. The best results would be achived by placeing Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba in one team. Shino is the best chioce for the position of the teams' captain and strategist, something Iruka learned during the years he spent as his sensei. Inuzuka Kiba, while loud and brash, is a perfect candidate for the teams muscle and tracker: the things that his clan is best kown for. Then there is Hinata, whose Byakugan complements the scouting abilities of the two boys. She could grow into a strong kunoichi if she gets over her confidence problem, however being placed on a team with Shino and Kiba might help her with that since both boys are quite friendly towards her.

That leaves Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto as his last problems. Sakura, while being undoubtably the smartest person in the class when it comes to written tests, isn't as good in the practical aspects of academy training as the other students. In fact he would have to be forced to agree if somenone told him that she's the weakest of the students that graduated. Than there's Naruto who has average scores when it comes to written tests, though Iruka observed that he got there just barely and that 'written stuff just isn't him'. Howevar, Naruto did score the highest in taijutsu and is on even grounds with Sasuke in the ninjutsu department, though Sasuke only uses Katon jutsu, while Naruto has a little of each, but doesn't seem to favour Raiton jutsu. The same could be said for weaponds use, as the boys are clearly tied in the use of shuriken and kunai. Now Iruka has to decide what to do with them. Sakura needs to be placed with stronger teammates to compensate for her weker physical abilities. Naruto, because of his heavy usage of taijutsu and ninjutsu is best suited for an assault team.

Iruka has gotten quite close to Naruto over the years, ever since he bumped into Naruto at the ramen stand. At first he wasn't fond of the boy since he lost his parents to the beast that is now sealed in the boy, however once the frequency of their meatings at Ichiraku's increased Iruka managed to talk to the boy a bit. Iruka learned that they are both alike in many ways: they both lost their familys in the Kyuubi attack, both love ramen, and pranks. Iruka grew to view Naruto as something close to a little brother that he never had, and got to learn some of the less known things about the boy, like his love of gardening, his relationship with the Hokage and loose friendship with some of Konoha's elite shinobi like Maito Gai and Copy-nin Kakashi. Therefore it was a hard decision for Iruka to make, what team to put Naruto in. As he was thinking about Naruto an idea entered his mind. 'Of course, how could i forget about something like that'. Instantly most of his problems seamed to go away.

'There are 27 graduates to separate into 9 teams of three, but usualy only a third of the teams pass the final test given to them by their Jounin-sensei. Instead of placeing them into teams that all have nearly equal chances of passing, I shold place the Gennin in teams that will have the highest chances of passing.' Thought Iruka. 'The Ino-Shika-Cho team will most likely pass, the same can be said about the scout team consisting of Hinata, Shino and Kiba, so that leaves an assault team.'

'Since Sasuke will most likely fit best in this team and is an Uchiha, the most probable sensei for his team will be Copy-nin Kakashi, the villages only other Sharingan weilder. Since Kakashi will be the sensei than placeing Naruto with someone who he knows is the best option. That only leaves the third member of the team. It has to be someone who will be a balance for Narutos' and Sasukes' heavy Ninjutsu usage. I need someone who is a Genjutsu type and the only best option for that spot is Sakura.'

"I just hope Naruto can work with them. I know how he dislikes Sasukes attitude, and Sakura clearly likes Sasuke but dislikes Naruto because he doesn't like Sasuke. As Shikamaru would say 'Troublesome', but I know that they will pass somehow. "

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The next morning Iruka delivered the list of teams to the Sandaime

"Thank you Iruka. I take it it was a very difficult matter to solve."

"Hai Hokage-sama, I had to spend a few hours trying to sort out this mess. It wasn't easy given that I had to make the Ino-Shika-Cho team and a reconnesance team, as well as the overall scores of the graduates."

"Yet you were able to devide the children into good teams, though please explain why you placed Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura in one team? It makes this team much stronger than the others."

"You see Hokage-sama normaly Sasuke and shikamaru would be on one team but the Ino-Shika-Cho team destroys that concept entirely. Sakura is the weakest Gennin but shows promise in Genjutsu and has excelent chakra control. Naruto is preaty much the strongest Gennin overall bur scored average in the exams due to his written test. It helped me greately that Naruto and I have gotten close over the years and that he told me about his acuaintence with Kakashi-san. I figured that since Sasuke will be o a team whose sensei will most likely be Kakashi, who is our only other Sharingan user, it would be best to place Naruto with someone who he knows. Since both Sasuke and Naruto are strong Gennin hopefuls who use Ninjutsu mostly, I decided to place Sakura on their team due to the fact that she will most likely be their teams Genjutsu user."

"I can understand your reasoning Iruka-kun but don't you think that you're being a bit unfair towards the rest of the students?"

"I understand Hokage-sama but I made the teams in such a way, that the other six teams still have high chances of passing. The three teams that seem more in favour will most likely pass, though their have slightly bigger chances than the rest. Either way we will have three teams and, though I hate to say it, having those 3 teams is better for the village, but that doesn't mean I liked making that decision."

"I have to agree with you Iruka, we don't like it that we are favouring those three teams more than others, but those nine children are some of the most gifted Gennin we have seen in a few years. There is one more rhing I must tell you. Mizuki won't be joining you in the academy any more. He tried to steal the Forbidden scroll, but unfortunetly for him I returned earlyer than expected and apprehended him before he could make his escape. Currently he is being interrogated by Ibiki-san in ANBU HQ."

"Who would have thought that Mizuki would be capable of doeing something like that. I will be going now, good day Hokage-sama."

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**Day of gennin placements**

Naruto arrived at the academy a bit early so he dacided to wait in the class. When he got there he noticed that Shikamaru and Shino were there already. Shino he could undeerstand since the stoic Aburame was known to come early, but for Shikamaru it would be too troublesome.

"Hey Shino, Shikamaru boy you guys are early."

"Good day Naruto-san."

"Triublesome, my mother woke me up earlyer than usual that's why I'm here half an hour early, Troublesome woman."

"Sooo, who do you think will be on your teams?"

"My troublesome father said something about trying to place me with Chouji and Ino as the second Ino-Shika-Cho team. I don't mind being with Chouji bit I just know Ino will be more troublesome than usualy."

"I will most likely be placed on a reconnesance team though I can not be certain."

"Well at least you guys know something. I just hope I'm not placed with Sasuke. Kami knows I'll go crazy if were on one team."

Time passed by and more kids entered the class, with the highligt being Ino and Sakura entering the room screaching like banshees, untill it was 10.00 and Iruka entered the class.

"Ok graduates, it's time to assign you to teams and Jounin-senseis. Team 1 will consist of…..". At this point naruto decided to tune out everytning and wait for his name to be called out. "Team 7 will consist of Uzumaki Naruto…" Naruto lifted his head. "…Haruno Sakura…" Naruto groaned. "… and Uchiha Sasuke."

"Yeah!" yelled Sakura.

"No!!" yelled Ino.

"Fuck!!!" Naruto slammed his head into the desk.

"Your sensei will be Hatake Kakashi."

"Team 8: Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino. Your sensei will be Yuhi Kurenai."

'_I'm not with Naruto-kun.' _thought Hinata sadly.

'_This is bull.'_ thought Naruto.

'_What a drag.'_ thought Shikamaru.

"Team 10: Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, Yamanako Ino. Your sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi." Iruka said.

"Oh come on Iruka-sensei. The order of these teams are way off." shouted Naruto

"Naruto that's enough. These teams were approved by the Hokage."

"Somebody is going to die!!!"

Iruka just knew that he'll have a headache soon. "O.k go out to lunch and be here at noon for yoyr senseis to pick you up."

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Shikamaru sighed at his predicament. He laid against the railing as Ino kept going on and on. She just wouldn't shut up. He noticed Naruto hedding their way.

"So Naruto how's your team?"

"This sucks, I'm stuck with the Uchiha and his pet. Talk about troublesome."

"That's my line get your own."

"Funny, so where's your third teammate ?" Ino shoved her teammates out of the way and glared hard at Naruto.

"Hey Uzumaki, me and my team are talking so get lost." she barked at him. He looked at her for a while before turning his attention back to Chouji.

"So Chouji, ramen race at Ichiraku's?" he asked

"Hey, did you hear what I just said?" shouted Ino

"You're on." Chouji said

"I'm talking here."

"Shikamaru you'll referee o.k?" Naruto asked

"Don't ignore me."

"Do I have a choice?" Naruto and Chouji nodded no and Shikamaru sighed. He agreed.

"Hey!" Ino yelled as the boys went away.

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Hatake Kakashi walked toward the classroom. He could never understand why he continued to do this. He had not passed any genin team in his career as a jounin instructor. None of the teamsdisplayed the qualities he was looking for. So here he was again ready to fail another genin team. When he entered, he was surprised at what he saw. He already knew Uchiha Saskues' history with the fact that his clan was wiped out so that didn't surprise him. Haruno Sakura he only knew about because he read her file. She was quite smart and had a talent for genjutsu but other than that she wasn't as much as a surprise. He cught sight of a certain blond he knew sleaping on the desk.

"My first impression of you guys . . . is that you're a bunch of idiots. Meat me on the roof in 5 minutes." And with that he poofed away. Team 7 looked at where he stood and blinked a few times before going to the roof.

On the roof of the academy, team seven sat in front of their sensei, who was reading a book.

"All right now, let's introduce ourselves." He said.

"Uh, what do you mean sensei?" asked Sakura

"I mean your likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies stuff like that."

"Why don't you go first sensei?" said Sakura.

"Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi. I have a lot of likes and a lot of dislikes, but I have no desire to tell you. My dreams are… I have a lot of hobbies."

'_All we got was his name.'_ thought Sakura.

"Well, now it's your turn. You first pinky."

"Oh, my name is Haruno Sakura. The person I like is… my hobby is… my dream for the future is…" she said while blushing. Naruto bent over the railing making gagging noises. "And I hate Ino-pig and Naruto-baka."

'_Oh, great a fan-girl.' _"Ok, next."

"My name is Uchiha Saskue. I have a lot of dislikes but not a lot of likes. I don't want to use the word dream, more like an ambition is to resurrect my clan and… to kill a certain man." Saskue said.

'_Cool.'_ Sakura thought.

'_I thought so.'_ Kakashi thought. "Ok, you next."

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. My likes are ramen, training and an occasional prank or two. My dislike is the three minutes it takes to make ramen, crazy fan girls and arrogant pricks." Sakura and Saskue sent him dirty looks. "I only really have one dream and that is to become the greatest hokage there was.

'_Well I have an avenger, a fan girl and Naruto. This should be interesting.' _"Well, now that done, we can begin doing our duties but there is one thing we need to do before that."

"What is it?" asked Sakura

"Survival training." Kakashi said

"But sensei, we've done survival training." Kakashi chuckled at her question.

"What's so funny?" asked Sakura.

"Well for one, I'll be your opponent in the survival training." He said

"But that not everything is it?" asked Naruto.

'_He's sharp.'_ "You're right about that. Out of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine will be genins. The rest will be sent back to the academy. This training is a super difficult exam with a sixty-six percent failure rate." Naruto and Sakura gave shock expressions while Saskue gave a glare.

"So what the hell was all that stuff at the academy for?" yelled Sakura.

"That was just to see if you have the stuff to become genin. We just can't have everyone as a genin now. So be at training ground eleven at six and don't eat any breakfast. You wouldn't want to puke." Kakashi said and he disappeared.

"Well I'm off. See you tomorrow." And with that Naruto poofed away leaving Sakura gapeing and Sasuke fuming.

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The next morning Sakura and Sasuke were wating at the training ground tired and hungry. Five minutes before nine Naruto showed up.

"Where the hell have you been it's almost 9!!!" Yelled Sakura.

"I'm on time. After all Kakashi-sensei was three hours late yesterday. What makes you think he wont be late today." As if on cue Kakashi poofed into the training ground.

"You're late!!!" yelled Sakura. Saskue just glared at the man.

"Sorry, I got lost on the road of life." Kakashi said

"Only you wold get lost on a one-way road with walls on the sides." Grumbled Naruto.

Kakashi took our two bells. "These are your objective." he took out an alarm clock and put it on top of the post next to him.

"O.k the timer is set for noon. You have until then to get one of these bells from me. If you do you pass.

"But there are only two bells sensei." Said Sakura

"Good observation." He joked. Naruto snorted as he tried to hold in a laugh which earned him a glare.

"The one, who doesn't get the bell, goes back to the academy."

Naruto began to realize that something was up. The test made no sense. He was hiding something. That's when it hit him. Kakashi is testing not just their abilities but something else as well.

Sakura was clearly concerned, biting her lip as she eyed the bells. She glanced at Sasuke. There was no way she could get a bell over him. He was the rookie of the year! That left... Naruto. She could beat Naruto. Besides, if it was Naruto that was gone, then she's have Sasuke-kun to herself on the team!

"Well now, time to get started. Come at me with the intent to kill. The test begins… now!" Naruto, Sakura and Saskue disappeared.

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Kakashi had to admit that they were good at hiding. That's when Naruto suddenly appeared.

"You know, compared to the others, you're really weird." He said

"Well, I never cared what the others thought about me. Besides, there is something about this test that seems off. I was hoping you would shed some light on the situation." Naruto said

'_He's really sharp.'_ "That's an interesting theory but why should I tell you anything?" he asked

"I figured you wouldn't so I'll just beat it out of you." Naruto said and charged at Kakashi.

"Lesson One: Taijutsu." He said and he reached for something in pouch. Naruto stopped his charge and pulled out two kunais from the sleves. Kakashi saw this and was impressed. Naruto stood in a guard position with his kunais. What he saw was shocking. He pulled out a book. It was an orange covered book with a man chasing a woman.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm reading to see what's going to happen next. Don't worry, you won't even touch me." Naruto got pissed and charged at him. He threw a punch which hit air. He tried a kick which Kakashi ducked and got behind him.

"You know, you shouldn't let the enemy get behind you." He said while he formed the tora seal.

Sakura saw what Kakashi was about to do and yelled at Naruto. "Get out of there Naruto. He's going to destroy you."

"Too late. _**Konohagakure Hiden: Taijutsu no Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi**_ (Hidden Leaf Secret: Taijutsu Supreme Technique: A Thousand Years of Death)" Kakashi stuck his index fingers into Naruto butt, only for Naruto to go up in smoke. **"**_**Kage bunshin**_**?"** Thought Kakashi out loud. Just then four Narutos burst from the ground and attaced him. Kakashi was impressed as the clones were using very complex fighting strategy. He destroyed two clones and was about to destroy another one when the fourth clone came from his right and blocked his punch. The third clone attempted to use a crushing heel kick but it was blocked. That's when he saw four more clones coming at him. Destroying the two remaining clones that attacked him, he readied himself for the others.

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Saskue observed from his hiding spot and was amazed and envious of Naruto. He knew that those were no ordinary bunshins. They were solid and were able to do damage.

'_How the hell does he know such a technique?'_ Suddenly he caught movement from behind. He turned around to see another Naruto. He was moving fast and he was trying to get behind Kakashi. He watched as he stopped and snapped a kunai from his sleeve. He poised himself and waited. After a few seconds, Naruto let the kunai fly.

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Sakura watched as a kunai came out of nowhere towards Kakashi, then she realized what it was aiming for. It was the bells. The kunai cut a string that held one of the bells. She saw Naruto moving and he was moving fast.

'_He was never this fast in the academy?'_ Sakura thought. He had the bell in his grasp until a kick sent him flying or it would have if it wasn't a shadow clone. She saw Kakashi's surprise and that is all Naruto needed. He caught the bell and jumped over Kakashi. That's went it suddenly hit her. Naruto actually got a bell. It was short lived though as Kakashi sped up and kicked Naruto in the back, making Naruto drop the bell.

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Kakashi was actually winded. This boy had actually been able to get a bell, if only for a short moment, with a well laid plan. He used his clones as distractions and he went after the target. Taking back the bell, he stared at his most surprising student.

"I have to say, that was an excelent strategy you used against me Naruto."

"Thanks but there is still one thing that keeps bugging me. What are you really aiming for?"

"Now,now, you know I cant tell you."

"All right then. Tell me what I did wrong?"

"Well aside from taking on a jounin by yourself, not much." Naruto growled but suddenly he felt like kicking himself in the ass. He was a Genninnin and he was fighting a Jounin. Their skill levels were miles apart. There was no way he would actually get the bell. There was another part of this test. Naruto gave him a foxy grin which confused Kakashi.

"Thanks again, sensei." And with a poof he was gone. Kakashi heard the rustle of some leaves. He decided to follow but he heard the sound of shuriken coming toward him. Doing a replacement with a log, he would have to wait to see what Naruto coocked up next time.

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Naruto sat on a branch far away from the battle site. He actually had to thank the teme for providing a great distraction. He set some traps just in case. He knew that even though Saskue was rookie of the year he was no match for Kakashi. He sat there trying to remember the words that Kakashi said.

"_Well aside from taking on a jounin by yourself…"_ Naruto replayed in his head.

'_Well that's true. There was no way I could to get those bells away from him alone. So if this test isn't about individual skills then what is it?'_ He thought. He racked his brain for a possible answer. He then remembered something that Kakashi said yesterday.

"Wait a minute. How could only nine actually graduate?" he asked no one. Unknown to him, Kakashi smiled under his mask. He managed to get around Naruto's traps, which would have hurt, and spied on the boy. He was impressed that the boy was starting to get the idea of the test.

'_I have to remember to keep an eye on him.' _Kakashi disappeared and went in search of his other students. He wondered if the others were as sharp as this one.

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Sadly, Kakashi was greatly disappointed in Sakura. With one simple genjutsu, she was easily defeated. It seems that she was more concerned about Saskue's well-been than her skills. Speaking of the Uchiha, he was currently facing him.

"Shinobi Fighting Number Two: Genjutsu. Sakura fell for it." Kakashi said while reading his book.

"I'm not the same as them." Sasuke said

"Say that after you get the bells… Sasuke-kun. Naruto actualy had one in his hands." Kakashi said as he put his book away and looked at the Uchiha. Sasuke started by throwing shurikens at Kakashi. Kakashi dodged not really impressed until he saw Sasuke throw a kunai at a rope. '_A trap.'_ He thought as he saw a rain of knives coming at him. He dodged again and quickly blocked a kick from Sasuke. Saskue twisted his body and threw a punch. Kakashi caught the punch and raised his forearm to block another kick. He then noticed Sasuke's smirk and was wide eye as he watch Sasuke actually touch the bells. He broke off contact from him and put some distance between them. He was surprised yet again by his students but he didn't show it.

"That was pretty close. Not as good as Naruto but close enough." He taunted. Sasuke growled at being compared to the dobe. Doing some quick hand seals, Sasuke prepared a jutsu. Kakashi was again surprised. '_There's no way he knows that technique. A genin shouldn't have the chakra for such an advance technique.' _Sasuke ended his seals and took a deep breath. '_ I guess I was wrong. Why am I underestimating these kids?'_

"_**Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu**_** (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)."** Sasuke said and blew a large fireball at Kakashi. As his attack died down and the smoke cleared, he saw that Kakashi was not there. Sasuke tried to look for him quickly. '_Where is he? Is he to my right? To the left?'_ He thought until he felt something grab his leg. '_Shit'_ was Sasuke's last thought before he was sucked into the ground. He was buried up to his head and was glaring at a smiling Kakashi.

"_**Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu**_** (Earth Release: Inner Decapitation Technique)."** Kakashi said. "You right about one thing. You are different from the others but you can't do this alone. Naruto…" Kakashi dodged the three shuriken that where flying at him. He turned to face three Narutos coming out of the bushes. "I was wondering when you would try again." He dodged the first Naruto and had to block the second Naruto's kick. In the corner of his eye he saw two Naruto clones digging Sasuke from the ground. Kakashi smirked and destroyed the two clones and charged at the real Naruto. Naruto stopped the two clones from helping and ordered the two clones to attack. They charged and Naruto had the biggesr grin Kakashi had seen.

'_This cant be good'_ Thought the copy-nin: And he was right. What he saw made his eye go wide. The Naruto clones had five exploding tags inside their jacket - EACH!!! The two clones smiled, and than the clones went Boom!!! Naruto used the cover of the dust cloud and got the Uchiha to safety.

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Kakashi coughed and dusted himself off. Maybe he should check if Naruto isn't wacked in the head. Sure it was a very creative tactic, but when he said to come at him with the intention to kill he didn't expect him to take him seriously. He looked at the damage cause and was glad that he took the clones grins as a warning.

'_Remind me to kill Anko after this test is over.'_ Yes Naruto was exposed to her way too long.

"I don't know what is worse: This or Naruto in green spandex yelling about 'The power of Youth'." Kakashi said to him self. Just thinking about that prank Naruto pulled on him gave him the creeps – And he got Gai in on it too. Kakashi had nightmares for a week.

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Naruto sat with Sasuke and Sakura who woke up just moments ago. Sasuke was not happy about being rescued by Naruto, not one bit.

"I don't have time to talk dobe. I have to get those bells." He said

"Damn it teme, I'll trying to tell you something important. Whydo you think I saved your ass back there." Naruto yelled.

"Don't yell at Sasuke-kun, Naruto." Sakura shouted.

"Shut up and listen, both of you. The bells are not the test. They're a distraction."

"What?" the both asked.

"Think about it. He's a Jounin and we're Gennins. He's way out of our league. There is no way we could get those bells."

"Maybe for you dobe but I will get a bell." Sasuke said.

"Will you forget about the bell? Kakashi wants something else from us and I think we should figure it out before we face him again." Naruto explained.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"I thought back to what he said yesterday. Out of twenty-seven graduates only nine would become genins. Isn't that kind of strange?" Sakura was actually beginning to think about. Sasuke was getting more and more pissed.

"We're standing here doing nothing and it's almost noon. I'm not staying here any longer. I'm going to get those bells and if you stand in my way I'll beat you down." Naruto felt like beating the shit out of the bastard but he needed to stay calm.

"Let's say that you're right Naruto. Even if we work together, we still won't get the bells." Sakura said.

'_Work together? Wait a minute. If only nine become genin that would mean that there would only be three teams. Since we're all broken up into teams of three… That's it. That's the meaning behind this test.'_

"I finally figured it out. This isn't a test of skill. It's a test of…" He was cut off by the alarm. Suddenly, Naruto was hoisted into the air by Kakashi. He looked at the one eyed jounin.

"Did you realy have to blow me up?" He asked.

"Yup." Naruto replied. Kakashi looked at his team and sighed.

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Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at Sakura's situation. She glared at the blond and tried to break out of the ropes that held her to one of the stumps. Kakashi got the attention of the team.

" I have some good news and some bad news." Kakashi said. All three perked up.

"Good news is that Naruto will be the one who goes back to the academy."

"WHAT!" he roared. The other two smirked at the blond. "How is that a good thing?"

"You'll get a better team next year." He faced the other two. "You two will be bumped from the program, permanently. That's the bad news." He said. Sasuke not liking that decision charged forward only to be placed on the ground with Kakashi stepping on his head.

"Hey, you can't step on Sasuke like that." Shouted Sakura.

"You two are just a bunch of brats. Did you even ask yourself why you're put into teams of three or why only nine would actually become genins?" Sakura looked confused and Kakashi sighed. "The point of the exam was…"

"Teamwork." Naruto said.

"Teamwork? So what were the bells for?" Sakura asked.

"They were meant to divide you. This test was to see how well you work as a team. Even if you didn't get the bells, you would have passed if you worked together."Kakashi explained.

"That's why Naruto is getting a second shot and someone else to deal with his crazy ideas." Naruto just grinned.

"Wait, why is only Naruto getting a second shot?" Sasuke asked.

"You each have your weakness. Sasuke, you think that the others will only slow you down. Sakura, you're only concerned with Sasuke and didn't even think of helping Naruto. Naruto, you feel that you need to take on everything by yourself,but unlike you two, Naruto was willing to help you both. He took Sakura to safety and helped you escape. He also shared information even though he didn't have to. Naruto has a grasp of how to work in a team while you two can't free yourselves from your own selfishness." Kakashi explained. The other two looked at Naruto who just shrugged.

Kakashi went on to explain the spot that they were at. The memorial stone that held the names of those that were KIA, killed in action. He then told them that those who abandoned their team are trash. Everyone got depressed so Kakashi decided to raise their spirits.

"Ok I'm going to give you one more chance. Sasuke and Naruto, you two can eat the lunches but don't feed Sakura. You've got ten minutes. Remember my word is law." He said and disappeared. The two sat and began to eat and soon after that they heard Sakura's stomach grumble. Naruto looked at Sasuke, who ignoted the sound completely,and went over to Sakura.

"What are you doeing Naruto trying to get us to fail?" shouted Sakura.

"Here eat this. You'll need your strength if were going to pass. Besides I'm the onlyone who ate breakfast and got enough sleap today."

Sakura started to eat when Kakashi appeared, Storm clouds, lightning and fire burning in the eyes.

"I thought that I've forbidden you to feed her." Bellowed Kakashi.

"And et us to fail again, beause she's too weak to move. Thanks but no thanks." Was Naruto's reply.

"YOU ALL………"

The three Gennin braced themselves for the inevitable.

"…PASS!!!"

"Hugh???"

"I always got some idiots that did everything that I said and let their teammate starve so I had to fail them. You're the first ones to pass."

Naruto grinned, Sakura cheared, Sasuke smirked thinking that they passed because Kakashi didn't want to fail him.

"All right now that we're a team we'll be meating at the bridge at 9.00 from now on." And with that Kakashi poofed away.

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At the Hokages office the Sandaime and the rest of the Jounin-senseis gathered to report on the performance of their teams. After the senseis of the teams that failed gave their reports came the turn of the rest.

"Team 8 consisting of Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hiata and Inuzuka Kiba passed." Said Kurenai.

"Team 10 consisting of Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino passed." Asuma reported.

"Team 7 consisting of Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke …Passed." Said Kakashi.

"What!!! Kakashi actually passed a team…" Said one Jounin.

"Were all going to die!!!" added Asuma.

"Ohh come on, I'm not that bad." Whined Kakashi.

**Authors Note:**

**Man that's a lot of words. I know I made some mistakes in previous chapters and I will fix them …eventualy. Right now I want to write to the Chuunin exams before I get round to fixing things. For all those who think I overdid it with Naruto I have this to say. He trained for 5 years with the Hokage (learning to controll the jumps) Yamato and Kakashi ninjutsu and how to use weapons and other stuff like that, Taijutsu with Gai (how else did he get the idea to prank Kakashi-unusally cruel I know) And he met Anko (you know what that can cause). Right now he's better at Tai bit that's Gais work so why are you so supprised (he did wonders for Lee) They didn't teach him too many jutsu (that's the Senseis job) And he's a bit slower than Lee without his weights, Gai's work!**

**So he is still reasonably good but not overly powerful. He's not using the 'Jumps' yet because the Hokage told hm to keep a low profile and try to use them as a last dich effort (and to disguise them somehow so pepolr wont start talking). **


	5. Of D ranks, Demons and treasure hunting

**Chapter 5: Of D-ranks, Demons and treasure hunting.**

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The next day began well for Naruto, as he woke up excited that his team was begining their training. He rolled over in bed and turned towards the clock 8.40, plenty of time considering that Kakashi will be late at least an hour. Naruto got out of bed and went to take a shower to wake up entirely. He dried off, got dressed and walked out of the bathroom into the kitchen for some breakfast. As he was waiting for the ramen to cook, Naruto looked outside to see the sun shining brightly. When the ramen was done Naruto ate it quickly and went to the team meating spot at the bridge. Naruto arrived at the bridge nearly half an hour after 9 but the only ones there were Sakura and Sasuke, who sent him an annoyed look.

"What, it's not like Kakashi-sensei is here yet."

The Uchiha prodigy simply ignored Naruto and leaned back to wait for their sensei, doing what he does best – brooding and plotting his brothers demise. Sakura just kept ogling Sasuke, but there were sighns that she was slowly getting irritated with her senseis tardyness. Seing that he had nothing better to do Naruto sat on the railing and waited for Kakashi to arrive. An hour later Kakashi stroled over to the bridge only for his eardrums to be shattered by a scream "YOU'RE LAAAATE!!" from Sakura. He sighed as he saw a very angry Sakura, who seemed close to bursting with anger, a pissed off Sasuke, and Naruto, who seemed to be drifting away to sleep.

"Ahh, you see, a black cat had crossed my path and I had to go around the longer path" said Kakashi in an attempt to quell Sakura's anger. Unfortunately, this got Sakura even angrier. She screamed again, "LIAAAAAR!". Kakashi grinned when he saw both Naruto and Sasuke covering their ears and glaring at him.

"I took the liberty of picking up our first D-rank missions. Usually such missions are a little boring, so I picked one of the more exciting ones." Kakashi looked at his students, who were eagerly awaiting the missions specifics.

'_Ohh this is going to be good.' _Thought Kakashi '_I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when I tell them.' _

"Our mission for today will be…" Thr three Gennin were on their toes by now, and as all things that go up… "…capturing the Fire lord's wifes cat Tora."…they came crashing down. '_Priceless.'_

Team 7 just stood there frozen for good five minutes before kakashi heard their response. "WHAT!!!"

"You heard me lets go."

And with that they set out to find the scourge of all D-ranks, the beast that drove many Gennin insane- TORA!

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When Kakashi said that D-rank missions were boring he wasn't kidding. Naruto was contemplaiting ritual suicide if only it would rid him of this boredom. For one whole month, team seven did nothing but D-rank missions to help build up teamwork. They were nothing more than chores. Naruto didn't like these missions but kept quiet and threw in an occasional complain or two. Sakura liked most of them but walking dogs or babysitting was too much for her, and she would snap like a twig any day now. Sasuke was annoyed as hell '_This is stupid. I should be working to get stronger, not waisting my time doing pointless chores.'_

Today Team 7 was in the middle of their mission that became a constant in their early ninja career- Tora. The members of team seven moved in to the area the Cat-deamon chose as his hideout this time. They quickly hid behind the trees and proceded to flank their prey. Each of them hand a headset on, awaiting orders from Kakashi.

"Team 7 report status on targrt.?" Kakashi asked

"Fox here, target sighted." was Naruto's voice.

"Avenger reporting, I have visual." was Sasuke's voice.

"Blosom here, I'm is position to intercept." guess who this was.

"How far is the target?"

"About five meters, sir." Sakura replied

"All right everyone, move in."

Team seven moved in quickly. Naruto chased out the cat and Sasuke directed Tora towards Sakura. From there it was easy since Tora liked Sakura and always jumped into her arms. They developed this stategy after naruto and Sasuke almost got shreaded by the little hellion.

"Cat 'Tora' captured." Sasuke reported.

"Mission completed. Come on back." Kakashi said.

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The next month passed by just as fast as the first one. After the fist month Kakashi decided that after completing 24 D-rank missions, which in itself is a miracle due to the copy-nin's constant lateness, Team 7 will focus purely on training their skills as ninja. Kakashi started them off with chakra controll exercises, the first one being Tree walking. Since Naruto knew it already he and Kakashi took a page out od Asuma and Shikamaru's book and played Shogi to work on strategy. Sakura finished the exercise quite fast and Kakashi was goig to have her work on something else, but than Naruto poited out that Sakura was able to complete three walking because she had very small chakra reserves. After seing Naruto's point Kakashi had her running up and down the tree until she dropped. To messure the progress they used the ammount of clones Sakura could do. Before tree walking she could only make six, so Kakashi told her that she can stop practicing when she could make thirty. Sasuke finished tree walking in five days. The rest of the month was used for Taijutsu training, endurance and stamina excercises, and individual training.

While the two biggest problems were ocupied with their training Naruto and Kakashi discussed the situation of Team 7.

"Sooo Naruto, normaly I wouldn't do such a thing, but since I know you for some time due to our previous training, care to give me your opinion about our team. I need a second opinion, because I have some ideas as to what to work on in order to improve the teams performance."

"You whant my opinion on those two since you know me well enough and mostly what I know since you talked with Yamato and Gai and know Anko's habit of teaching me a few nasty tricks and improveing what I knew."

"That sums things up nicely, so got any suggestions?"

"Let's see, Sasuke. I admit that he is a good fighter but that ' I'm better than all of you and you're all beneath me' attitude of his the biggest problem. If you ask me he needs to have the shit beat out of him to make him realise, that he can't do much alone and that his arrogance and underestimating of others will get him killed before he even gets a chance to face his brother. Unfortunetly if I were to fight him and beat him his arrogance would make him delusional and the whole ' How did the dobe get this power, I have to get stronger if I want to kill Itachi' thing wil surace and make things worse than they are now. He thinks that just because he's an Uchiha he is powerful and when someone, who he beleaves is beneath him, defeats him he gets angry and starts to act like a spoilt brat: takes his toys and leaves the sandbox pissed at the world. He needs to learn, and fast, that he can't use his clans position and fame to justify his own actions and attitude. And the council and villagers only make things worse by feeding that Ego of his." Naruto explained.

"That's an intresting point of view you have. But I realy can't argue with the arguments you make." Was Kakashi's response.

"Sad but true. Now with Sakura you've got your work cut out for you. Aside from the fact that she is weak and despite her overall booksmarts she is an airhead whenever Sasuke is in the area I don't know what to say. She is a fan-girl of the highest level that loses any and all inteligence she may have when she sees Sasuke nearby. She follows him like a lost puppy, is concerned more about her looks than other things, neglects her training and doesn't even do the bare minimum. That and she is overly violent, must be some childhood thing or something that's causing it. I hate to say it but with pepole like her around it's no surprise that the opinion of Kunoichi is so low. If Anko sees the way she acts she might feed her to her snakes."

"That's harsh, but I have to agree that her comitment to the team needs a drastic improvement, otherwise she will be a hinderence. You know we could use her obsession with Sasuke to make her train more, say that he only likes strong girls, ones that could help rebuild his clan. What do you think?"

"Bait her with a treat. That could work but I think that is a bad idea. It will only further her obsesion and make things worse in the long run, though you know that too, that's why you asked me. There is a second option in the 'stick and carrot' method. We use the stick on her. If she wants to be on our team she has to work for it. As the teams sensei you have authority to make requests concerning team members and transfers."

"Ohh that's bad!! We threaten Sakura, say that she'll be kicked of the team if she doesn't show improvement. I like that, it's so devious. The prankster in you is still very much alive. This is going to be good."

"You never grow out of pranking, you just incorporate it into other activities. It's either that or have her wear Gai's spandex suit. Just make sure to bring a camera, we want a souvenirof that day. Just imagine the look on her face."

"Than it's settled I'll go with the 'stick' option. I'm glad that I got a second opinion on the matter. I actualy got more than just a confirmation of my suspitions. Thanks Naruto."

"If you want to thank me than do it properly, over Ramen."

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The next day Kakashi took Sakura off to the side for a chat while the boys were sparing.

"What did you want to talk to me about sensei?"

"Sakura, why did you become a ninja?" Before sshe could reply Kakashi continoued "Was it because of Sasuke, because other girls did the same and you followed the group."

"No.I…"

"You don't even know. Than let me tell you something, Naruto and Sasuke are strong. They work hard to be stronger to be able to accomplish their goals, though Sasukes will only get him killed if he doesn't rethink his behaviour. You on the other hand are weak, not because you are a girl. I know that I can't expect the same things from you as I do for the boys, because they are a diferent type fighters than you. You are a genjutsu type due to your high chakra control, but like everyone you need to build up your chakra reserves and stamina. Right now you are not doing even the bre minimum of things expected from you. You don't train enough, instead you either spend time going after Sasuke, who doesn't like you like that. Your attitude toward the team is destructive and that needs to change. There will be times that you will be forced to fend for yourself and there wont be Naruto or Sasuke or even me to help you out. We will be too busy fighting to worry about you. Right now I can either request that you be removed from team 7 or give you a chance, only one."

"No!!, don't kick me out of the team."

"Why, because you wont be able to go after Sasuke anymore?. If you want to stay on the team you will have to train really hard. And no more chaseing after Sasuke, since it destracts you too much, that's one of the biggest reasons why you're not strong enough, why you scored slightly below average in physical skills. I'll leave you to think about it, and I'll plan your training."

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After the big talk with Kakashi Sakura finally got down to some serious training. Even though he seemed a bit heartless, Kakashi wrote out a series of training excercises for Sakura that would start off with light stuff, that was still a considerable effort on her part, gradually advanceing to more demanding training. At the beginning of the third month she could be considered a decent kunoichi. Though Sakura wasn't as strong as she could have been if she trained properly from the beginning, she was still good enough thanks to Kakashis crash course training. Her taijutsu improved quite well and now she could beat some of the boys that graduated from the academy with her but were too strong for her previously. Since Sakura was keeping her end of the bargain and trained hard giving Sasuke breathing space, for which the Uchiha was glad though hell never admit it to anyone, Kakashi decided to teach her some of the lower level genjutsu he knew as well as some defensive jutsu, however she had yet to master them entirely. Naruto and Sasuke were progressing nicely when it came to their skills, though Kakashi had yet to get thru to the young Uchiha about his attitude problem, and even were close to mastering some of the D and C-rank jutsu that he had shown them. What surprised him most was the fact that Naruto decided to learn Kenjutsu and seemed to have some talent in the area, but it will take time for him to be realy effective with a blade.

Now Kakashi was certain that his gennin team could handle a C-rank mission so he decided to request one after they complete two more D-ranks the next time they're at the Hokage tower. As he turned a page in his beloved book team 7 reported that the mission to repair and paint a fence was finally finished.

"Ok team, that's it for today. Tomorrow we'll meet at the tower for our first C-rank mission so prepare your tools for a quick packing tomorrow, since we don't know what mission we'll be assighned, and get some rest."

With that team 7 went their separate ways home.

The next day they all met up at the entrance to the Hokage tower, and as usual Kakashi was no where in sight.

"Where the hell is he. I can understand being late for stupid d-rank missions, but being late for our first C-rank is unforgivable." Yelled a clearly pissed off Naruto.

"Yeah, you'd think he would show up on time at least once in a lifetime." Added Sakura.

Just than Kakashi exited the tower shoking his gennin team.

"Ohh, you're here allready. Come on we have to pick up the mission."

Too stunned that Kakashi showed up before them, team 7 just followed him into the building. When they snapped out of it they were at the doorway to the breefing room. When they entered they sam Iruka and the Sandaime along with some other pepole sitting at the large desk.

"Team 7 reporting fot a c-rank mission Hokage-sama."

"Ahh Kakashi, good to see your team here. It has been a little over a month now wasn't it?"

"Hai, you havent been here the last two days when we did some D-ranks for a warm-up for todays mission."

"I take it your team is ready for that kind of mssions?"

"Hai, they made excelent progress and are more than capable of completing those kinds of missions."

"Good, I have something right up your ally. We have had some trouble in Wave country recently. Our informants told us that Gato the multi-bilionare and shipping magnate had been opressing that country and using it as a base for his illegal activities. I have already made preparations to send a team of Chuunin and Jounin to dispose of him and his men. Your mission will be to escort the bridge builder Tazuna back to wave and protect the bridge he is building as well as take care of any bandits and merceinaries that survive the other teams assault. Do you understand?"

"And here I thought we'd get some ordinary caravan escort or something. We'll take care of it Hokage-sama."

"Good luck and don't overdo it Kakashi."

"Hai!"

"Please send Tazuna in."

When team 7 turned to the door they saw an old man who was clearly drunk.

"What, those brats are supposed to guard me!!!"

"That's right. They will be enough for the mission, and as for Gato he will be taken care of by another team."

"I don't know what you're talking about?"

"Please Tazuna-san do you think that we don't know what's going on. When you arrived it only confirmed our beleafs. Wave country will pay for those missions after you get back on your feet, or if enough will be recovered from Gato's base. After all, Wave does have some of the finest oysters and shellfish that are a valued comodity in other countrys. That and Waves nonexistant defences allowed Gato to take over so easily. Once your homeland is well again we hope that more missions will be available for our ninja to complete."

Tazuna was stunned. They have known all along and sent ninja to take care of Wave's opressor and even allowed for the payment to be made when the economy gets better. The only thing that Tazuna was able to say was "Thank you".

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With that done, Kakashi gave histeam an hour to prepare and meet up at the village gates. When everyone was ready, they set out to their destination. The trip was preaty much uneventfull. Kakashi had expected that at least some ninja will be sent to kill Tazuna so that Gato could keep his chokehold on the small country, but there wasn't even a gennin in sight that could be considered a hired ninja. Team seven reached Wave safely and even managed to catch a glimpse of the bridge. On their way to Tazunas house they were intercepted by two pepole clearly wounded and tired from a recent fight.

"Team stay back and guard Tazuna-san, while I investigate." After saying that Kakashi went over to the two figures. When he got closer he recognised one of them as an entry in the Bingo Book.

"Momochi Zabuza missing-nin from Kirigakure and one of the members of Kiri's seven shinobi swordsmen, Fancy meeting you here."

"Copy-nin Kakashi what brings you here to these parts of the world?"

"Oh you know, the usual. Escort here, assasinate there." Was Kakashi's lazy response. "So what happened to you, You're no slouch when it comes to fighting so whoever it was has to be good. I wouldn't want to have my Gennin team running into them by some chance. I am responsible for their safety after all."

"That piece of shit Gato hired me to kill some old fool. Unfortunetly he had a big mouth and I overheard him telling one of his men to kill me when I'm done so he wouldn't have to pay me. That pissed me off real good, so I decided to take him out before he made his move and than take some loot that wolf cover my payment and a bonus for breaking our agreement. Well I managed to kill him but before we could take all of our payment his thugs stormed the place and we had to fight our way out. We managed to cut many down but I never expected the shitstain to have so many of them. They may be weeklings but even they can be dangerous when in large numbers. I even lost the Demon brothers because some of those goons were academy dropouts that at least had some shinobi training."

"Hmm, I see. Well I'll let you know that you just saved us and another team a lot of trouble. They had orders to eliminate the Gato, and if he didn't open his yap than we would be fighting now since I'm assighned to protect the man you were hired to kill."

"You don't say. Well than I'd probably lose the Demon brothers either way, but now there is no reason for me to fight you." Said Zabuza.

"Unfortunetly I'll have to kill you since you're a Nuke-nin."

"I don't think that will be necessary Kakashi-sensei."

"Naruto what are you doing here, youre supposed to be guarding Tazuna."

"**Kage bunshin** and as for them we could ask them to join us."

"You don't understand Naruto, he is wanted for instigateing a coup d'etat in Kirigakure and attempted assasination of the Mizukage. We can't let them live."

"The Mizukage is a piece of shit that took over Kiri with his men after the previous Kage died. That tyrant is responcible for many deaths and most of all the slauther of bloodline clans in Mizu no kuni. You would probably do the same if our roles were reversed."

"I hate to say it but he is right sensei. I'd probably doo something to stop such things if they were happening in fire country. You can't blame him for wanting to stop such things even if his methods were very flawed, after all Kiri is very diferent from Konoha."

"You bring up some good arguments as always, but I'll have to inform the Hakage about things that happened. If he says that we could invite them to join our ranks than they can come with us, but if they wont get a permission than we go our separate ways."

"Thanks Kakashi. I do have some doubts about joining you treehuggers but it is getting tireing to have to keep a look-out for Hunter-nin. Haku here isn't exactly a heartless killer I wanted him to be, and he is probably the last person alive with his bloodline."

"That could prove usefull in convinceing the council members to let you join. You are technicly his guardian and as such might be allowed to join on those grounds." Kakashi added.

"That and he could be considered his adoptive father. We could alvays have Zabuza undergo a change of identity and looks and have him be his own brother, or something like that just to shut up the council and throw off any spies working for Kiri that may be in Konoha." Naruto-clone suggested.

"You have one devious student there Kakashi. I like the way he thinks. I am the master of silent killing and a really damn good fighter, so I don't give a damn if I'll have your ANBU trailing me for a year if I join you guys."

"Well thasn it's settled I'll send Pakkun with a message to the Hokage and we'll see how it turns out." Kakashi said and took out his book. When Zabuza saw this his eyes went wide.

"Is that…Icha Icha paradise vol.15. How the hell did you get it. This is a limited edition too. Who did you kill to get one???"

"Oh that, Jiraya-sama the Hokages Student is the author so Konoha gets his books first in line. If you want I have vol.14 with me as well."

"If I get to join your village than I'm deffinetly staying there. Only a complete lunatic would turn Nuke-nin on a village that gets those books first and is the home of the book's autor. I cant wait to meet the guy, hes a heero of all men!!!" Zabuza exclaimed.

"That and he's my godfather, don't ask how, he just is. The old man told me that he and my father were close friends and that I got named after the main character from his book." Naruto added.

"Really whuch volume???" Both Kakashi and Zabuza asked.

"Not that book you perverts, his first book that didn't sell too well. My parents liked it and that's how I got my name. Later Jiraiya decided to sex it up a bit and that's how you got your Icha Icha books, sheesh I met the guy once when I was six and he came to the village to give his report to the old man."

After that revelation Naruto got TWO NEW BEST FRIENDS- Kakashi and Zabuza, after all who wouldn't want to be friends with the guy whose Godfather gave you a proposition you can't refuse: For those that don't get it were taking about an Icha Icha kind of proposal. It took Zabuza four days to get back on his feet and Pakkun returned with a letter from the Hokage stateing that Zabuza and Haku will be able to join up the ranks of Konoha, however the Sandaime stipulaited that Zabuza will have to undergo an alteration of apperance so that he could get a new identity since too many council members wouldn't let him become a Konoha shinobi. Since both his and Haku's knowledge of the nuke-nin society and Kirigakure techniques combined with Haku's bloodline were too valuable for the village to pass up the Sandaime would dispach an ANBU squad and some of his best and most trusted medics to create a new identity for Zabuza and bring him into Konoha, to officially sighn him up into the ninja force as Momochi Azuma adopted brother of Momochi Zabuza and legal guardion of Momochi Haku. Since the day that Pakkun returned not much happened. Team 7 was training as usual and guarding Tazuna just in case some of Gatos men came by. In fact three days after they received the letter a group of about thirty bandits that worked for Gato came in search of loot one more time for old times sake. Needless to say they were beaten quickly by Naruto, Sasuke and Haku while Sakura was guarding Tazunas home and Kakashi along with 'Azuma' just sat back and enjoyed the show. After that they returned to their perverted books. The bandits got the beating of a lifetime and were used as cheep labour for the construction works at Tazuna's bridge.

The day after the skirmish the team sent by the Hokage arrived and got down to making a new life for Zabuza. All in all they spent three weeks in Wave country. In that time Tazuna's snot nosed grandson Inari somehow managed to piss off Naruto so much that the blonde took the kid by the collar and dreged him outside where he straightened the brats attitude by yelling at the kids stupidity and telling him about his life, though not all of it, and that his father must be ashamed to have such a crybayby for a son sice he died for what he belived in and Inari just sat on his ass and kept crying doing nothing. With Inari's unbarable attitude out of the way Naruto ad Haku got a bit closer as friends and even went to check out Gatos hide out. Surprisingly there was still some things left, though most were taken by the team sent to eliminate Gato. There was enough money to cover the expences and to finance the reconstruction of Wave's economy. Even still Naruto and Haku were able to find some nice things. Naruto managed to find several thousand Ryo hidden in one wall when he slipped and fell threw it. His amazeing luck in gambling helped him find a hidden chamber that nobody had been able to find.

"Are you allright Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah, just hit my head a bit."

"It would seem that Gato-san had one more hidden chamber to store his wealth." Said Haku.

"Talk about paranoia. You did say that he was very carefull when it came to security but this takes the cake."

"I have to aggree. Gato was even more distrustfull of pepole than I imagined."

"Well than lets explore this room shall we." Naruto proposed.

As they entered the small room they could see that the hidden room contained money, scrolls, books and some weapnds in it.

"I think we should gather thiss stuff and bring it to the others. Than again Wave and Konoha got most of the fortune Gato had in this base so anything we find now is free game now." Naruto mused. Since were here we can split things even, what do you think?"

"Zabuza-sama and I allready took our share from Gato when we killed him, and you did say you're an orphan. You will need this more than me."

"Ok, ok than I'll take most of it and youll take only some of the money we find, now help me check those scrolls and books."

As they looked over them the boys were astonished. It looked like Gato wanted to conquer Wave country and than establish his own little private ninja force. Many of the scrolls they found there contained jutsu ranging from D-rank to B-rank and even a handfull of A-ranks, while the books were all mostly useless, save a few that contained some things about medicine and poisons as well as battle tactics. It was a good thing that Naruto had his storage scrolls with him at all times, so putting the scrolls some jewels and money into bags and sealing them in storage scrolls was a piece of cake. The same could be said for the usefull books and some of the better weaponds. Naruto decided to take with him the two Katana and Kodachi that were in the display case as well as a pair of Tanto for Anko while Haku took a Wakizashi for himself. After clearing the room of any usefull stuff Naruto and Haku explored the rest of the complex. The place though mostly cleared out still had some nice things intact, however most was just junk. The only things that Naruto found of any interest were some furniture that he could realy use at his place and some kimono that no doubt Gato had for the women that were sex slaves for him and some of his guests. It would be a shame if they got destroyed since such high quality silk and desigh were expensive, maybe Ayame-chan or Anko wold like one. Since there was nothing left Naruto and Haku decided to head for a clearing near Tazuna's house fore some light sparring and head for dinner.

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Two weeks had passed since the 'Special' team arrived and Zabuza was cleared for travel. He still had to wear a mask bince there were still visable sighns of the procedure he underwent to become 'Azuma'. The false papers from the Sandaime will help them safely enter Konoha and get sighned up as Leaf-nin. When the time to leave Wave came there was a celebration: The grend opening of 'The Great Konoha Bridge'. After saying their goodbyes team 7 plus two returned to Konoha and since they had no Tazuna to slow them down the got there in two days. They approached the gates and reported to the Chunnin on guard duity and when the formalities were out of the way they headed for the tower to givetheir report to the Hokage. The whole report took some time and it was six in the evening when they finished. By order of the Sandaime Momochi Haku and Momochi Azuma were enlisted as shinobi of Konoha and put on a four month probation period, meaning that they will be observed by ANBU and wont be able to access some of the areas in the village. 'Azuma' will be training with an ANBU squad to incorporate some of his techniques into their system while Haku was made Chuunin and allowed to learn more medical jutsu since, even if Konoha has the finest medics there is a limited number of them and any one medoc-nin in their ranks more the better.

Team 7 spent the next months doing an occasional D-rank mission and three more C-rank missions, those however were just a simple caravan escort to Tea country, protecting a wedding ceremony, due to fears that another man had competed for the bride's hand in marrige but was suspected of some illegal activities. That ended up in a small scale battle with some hired goons sent to abduct the young woman and kill the groom. The last C-rank was just 'Rescueing Sijimi-samas cat Tora along with the pets of her Frieds that came to visit'. That was it- Tora being upped to a C-rank, even if it wasn't alone was just crazy. They had to retreave 12 cats and dogs for some idiotic Nobles.

Aside from weird C-ranks training and relaxing there were a few things that made Naruto's day. One was wen he gave Ayame-chan one of those fancy kimonos he got from Gato and since Anko came by to hear some stuff from Naruto about the missions he had, that and they started serving Dango at Ichiraki's too, because Teuchi noticed that Akno eats as much Dango as Naruto eats Ramen, she got the pair of Tanto and a Kimono as well. Needless to say Naruto ended up going to Heavan because of the ammount of kisses and hugs the girls gave him, and dirty proposals he got from Anko nade him pass out from teenage hormone overdose with a smile on his face.

He gave Yamato one of the Wakizashi and a book on torture and some 'equipment' to Ibiki saying that torture is good and all but the scarryest thing there is, aside from Gai's displays of 'Youth', would be an Ibiki giving a very detailed lecture on torture to the guy he was about to question and using he poor fool as a demonstration dummy to boot. Let's just say that the happy maniacal grin that Ibiki gave him scared Naruto shitless. And so nearly half a year passed since graduation and the Chuunin Exams were approaching. Naruto knew that Kakashi might enter them because of their skill so he was excited at the prospect of entering.

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry that it took so long but schoolwork sucks sometimes. I had some ideas on what to do but school made me forget some stuff, just hope it wont be too boring since this is just a stepstone for the Chuunin exams. As you can see I made a little twist on the whole Wave arc. There** **are a few reasons for this. 1) I like how it shaped Naruto's personality in the original storyline. 2) I like Zabuza and Haku. They wont play a major part in the story overall but I hated the fact that the first strong guys that Naruto converted to his side got killed off so fast. Both he and the village could have used their help (no matter how small) later on. Narut would have a first Real friend and could ask both of them for help before and during the chuunin exams. 3) Because Naruto and Sasuke were nearly polar opposites in Original. Sasuke a Fire and Lightning element and Naruto a Wind element (though he should be a Wind Watter element to make things more interesting in the original story). Naruto knows barely anything in Cannon and some suiton jursu would be a great help to Naruto. (fight with kiba – won by a Fart, Neji- beaten by reckless use of Shadow clones Kyuubi's chakra and one smart move from Naruto to attack from below, Gara's fight could be better if he used some Suiton against him) Than the fight with Sasuke could be better because Naruto had home field in the Vally of the End, he could possibly beat Sasuke or hold him in a watter prison untill Kakashi showed up. **


	6. Chuunin Exams here I come

**Author's Note: Beta auditions open. Anyone who wants the job and doesn't suck at grammar will be most welcome.**

**Chapter 6: Chuunin Exams here I come.**

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It was buissness as usual in the village of Konoha and the only noticable difference would be the increased percentage of foreighners within the village walls. The whole town activity was in overdrive, merchants and hotel owners were making money and lots of it, while ANBU and security forces were cursing their luck that the Chuunin Exams were being hosted in Konoha this time.

Team 7 could be seen in a very familiar picture- Waiting for their retarded, oops I mean tardy sensei. Sasuke was still a brooding bastard that had hordes of Fan-girls but didn't give a damn about anyone and hadn't given up on his vendetta. Sakura stood on the other side of the bridge, reading a scroll with some basic medical jutsu that healed small wounds that usually get inflicted by shuriken. She started on that topic a month ago when Sasuke got injured in a sparing accident with Naruto.

They were allowed to use weapons and when Sasuke tried a new tactic he devised, though it was inspired by both Itachi and Naruto's styles. He managed to surprise the blonde slightly and was confident that his battle plan would allow him to get inside Naruto's defence and place a kunai at his foes throat, however the blond jinchiruki had always been good at thinking on his feet and managed to bend over and flip into the air enough to dodge the Uchiha's offence while throwing a shuriken. Things went wrong at that part since the shuriken, aimed at Sasuke's chest, was supposed to force the Uchiha to roll to the left, but Sasuke was too stunned at the near imposible move to react in time and used his hand as a shield. Kakashi ended the spar and sent the boy to have a medic look at his wound, which thankfully was shallow. For the first time in months the Fan-girl side of Sakura's personality returned and lashed out at Naruto for hurting her 'pretty boy'. After the pounding he received the blonde demon container could only groan that there weren't any medic-nin around when he needed one. That sparked an idea behind the billbord of a forehead and Sakura went to ask Kakashi if he thought she would make a good medic-nin. The cyclopian sensei had to admit that having a trained medic on a team was a good thing, and though it brought some old memories of his fallen teammates, he encouraged the girl to learn this allong her Genjutsu and supportive ninjutsu since her chakra reserves, though much bigger than before, weren't as large as the other members of team 7.

Naruto wasn't really present on the bridge and sent a shadow clone in his place, while he and Haku were working on some of those jutsu they found at Gato's place as well as joining up for early morning training before they had to go back to their duties. The worst part of that idea was running into Gai and his mini-me Rock Lee one time when they chose the same practice field. After that work out they were sore all day since the spandex clad duo set them up with an all out taijutsu only spar. One time they cought Hinata spying on them, only because he made too much noise after seeing the two of them together. Since Haku looked very feminine the Hyuuga heiress thought that Naruto was dateing that girl she had never seen before. Needless to say both Naruto and Haku had some laughs and after they explained everything to Hinata she laughrd a bit too. Since than she would come by every couple of days to train with them since they agreed to help her out, that had helped her very much and though she was still shy she gained much more confidence in her abilities, even going so far as to learn some low level Suiton jutsu and practice medical jutsu with Haku.

One day when Naruto and Haku were going to get some ramen they noticed that a square rock was following them. That could only be one person in the entire village: The Hokage's grandson Konohamaru that Naruto had the 'privilege' of knowing. Since he promissed that he'd play with them Naruto couldn't weasel out of it. At that time Sakura showed up and that led to a disaster since, according to Konohamaru, she 'insuthed' Boss and the kid did the same unknowingly. Sakura chased him down and they bumped into a team from Sunagakure. That led to Naruto saving the brat from the guy, whose name he learned was Kankuro, and meeting his sister Temari and their teammate Gaara. Gaara instantly set Naruto on edge with the vibes he sent out. The whole thing couldn't be complete without 'The great Uchiha" showing up and demanding answers. When they went their separate ways Naruto had a henged shadow clone trail the Suna team to learn more about what to expect them. What he learned confirmed his suspicions as he learned that they were the Kazekage's kids and that Kankuro used puppets while Temari was a Wind user and that their team was planning something. Unfortunetly there was too little information so the blonde would have to be very careful near them and keep his ears out for info.

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At exactly 10.30 Kakashi showed up with one of his usual excuses.

" Sorry I'm late but my door got stuck and I had to repair the lock before I could get here."

"I'm not even gonna honour this one with a response" came from Sakura.

"Well I had a meeting with the Hokage and thought you'd like these." Kakashi said as he presented three paper sheets "These are applicatins for the chuunin selection exams that are going to be held in Konoha this friday."

"That's in three days you lazy idiot, and you didn't intorm us sooner that you were thinking whether or not to enter us!?" Yelled Naruto "I ber that you were reading that smutty book of yours all the time and totally forgot what time of the year it was!!!"

"Yes well it's not something you can do without thinking about it first. These exams are quite dangerous you know."

"Hn, so these are the application forms?"

"Why yes they are Sasuke-kun. Just fill these out and be at the academy, room 301 on friday if you decide to participate." And with that he poofed out.

"Well this is nice we get to compete against the best gennin from other villages and risk being killed in this exam, oh joy." Came a sarcastic response from Naruto.

"There will be klling in the exam??" Asket a slightly disturbed Sakura.

"Why yes there will be Sakura-san. These exams are devided into three parts and there is usually a survival part or some other way to cut down the numbers drasticly. The only sure thing about the exam is the final part where those that passed all stages fight before an audience."

"I don't know if I should enter this time."

"You will have to think about it very hard, because it's your decision to make and only yours."

With that team 7 went home to think and prepare.

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It was friday and team 7 could be seen standing in front of the academy waiting to enter. Naruto was dressed in his usual outfit only instead of his usual black jacket with orange tiger stripes he wore a black leather coat and some kind of protective vest under his sleveless shirt/ jersey and two belts crossed round his waist**.(think of Cloud from FF7:AC only no shoulder guard, Morpheus style coat and Squal's belts fro FF8/ normaly it's just Cloud with Squall's jacket that has tiger stripes)**. What the belts were for Sasuke had no idea. Sakura wore a pink-red top, shorts with a skirt-like cloth round the waist and boot style sandals.(**Post timeskip Sakura's top and boots but FF7:AC Tifas bottom)**.

"So you guys ready for this?" Naruto asked.

"I'm nervous but ready." Sakura said.

"I was born ready." Sasuke boasted. Naruto just snorted and walked into the building. Sasuke soon followed with Sakura right behind them. As they walked through the halls, they noticed many ninjas in the building. Sakura realized that Naruto was paying special attention to each of them, sizeing the competition. They continued their way up the stairs, when they got up to the firsr floor (rooms 100 and so on are on the groun floor) they noticed a small scuffle between a team and two older boys. Sakura noticed that the sign that said 301 was under a genjutsu. She nudged Naruto to let him know. Naruto got the message and was about to tell Sasuke when:

"Drop that genjutsu, youre not fooling anyone." Came from Sasuke."You noticed it first, right Sakura?"

"Yeah, we're on the first floor not the second so the rooms should begin with a two." She said a bit dejected.

"Of course, the easy thing would have been for us to go around these two and sneak pass but you just had to show off again and let everyone know you're the great Uchiha." Naruto said sarcastically. Sasuke glared at Naruto. One of the older boys looked interested.

"So you're the last Uchiha? Well then, let's see how good you are." He threw a kick at Sasuke and he did the same. Suddenly a green blur appeared and caught both legs. A boy with a bowl cut and huge eyebrows appeared.

"Nice catch Lee, what do you for an ancore?"(sorry but couldn't find it in a Longman dictionary)

"Hello Naruto-kun, so your sensei nominated your team for the exams too I see?"

"Yeah though I know it wont be as easy as it sounds."

"Very true, I'll be looking forward to seeing you in the later parts of the exams."

With that the teams went separate ways, but Lee had another idea. He went after team7.

"Uchiha Sasuke my name is Rock Lee and I challenge you."

"Oh come on Lee we don't have time for this stuff righ now." Naruto said.

"Don't worry dobe, this won't take more than five minutes." Sasuke said and got into a fighting stance. Lee did the same. Naruto just sighed and leaned against the wall to get a good view at the ass kicking.Sakura stood next to Naruto. She watched as Lee and Sasuke engaged in a taijutsu battle. Naruto watched as Sasuke was getting pounded by the spandex clad gennin. Sakura couldn't believe how good this guy was. Lee sent Sasuke to the ground with a spin kick. Sasuke got pissed off and activated his Sharingan. Thinking that he had the advantage, he charged at Lee again and Sasuke was surprised that Lee was still beating quite badly. Meanwhile Naruto begun commenting the fight.

"Well that's a nice warm up. Maybe now Sasuke will get that stick out of his ass and start acting like should when on a team. That stupid attitude of his finally got him in a pinch he can't get out of." Naruto explained.

"What are you talking about Naruto?"

"If Sasuke wasn't so arrogant and kept underestimateing pepole he wouldn't be in such a mess right now. He thinks that just because he's an Uchiha he's better than other pepole and everyone should give him what he wants without having to work for it." Naruto ranted "What you see here is a result of his stupidity and overconfidence. Just because he has the Sharingan doesn't mean he can win fights easily. But what is the worst thing about Sasuke is that, because he's so far gone in his beleafs that he's superior to everyone, being beaten by someone he considers beneath him might make him do much more foolish things. Right now if he doesn't change he will either get himself killed or he might betray the village if someone offers him power without having to work too hard for it. The sad part is that it's his own fault he's so weak, like you when you neglected your training, he can't see that his behaviour is the reason for his slow growth. He rarely asks for help and works alone. If someone helped him by explaining some things he would progress much faster, but he has to come to that conclusion alone. If you, me, or anyone else tried to tell him that he would just think we're trying to hold him back."

"Oh. But what can we do to help if he's thinking like you say?'

"Absolutly nothing. I was impatient like him only for other reasons, but I was able to listen to what others tried to tell me. I managed to tame my emotions enough to train much better, I learned to be patient. That doesn't mean I don't get frustraited when things go wrong but I am able to get over it after some time. Sasuke allowed his anger at Itachi get the best of him. He can't see past his brother and thoes emotions cloud his judgement. That rule exists for a reason but is too vague in my opinion. It should say that you have to tame your emotions in a battle and keep a cool head so you wont make so many fatal errors, not to rid yourself of them entirely. That is just as bad as allowing emotions to cloud your judgement in battle. When you're off duty you can be as emotional as you want since shinobi are still humans and not mindless drones."

"I think I get what you're saying, but what if Sasuke continues to act like this or he did betray the village, what would happen to him then?"

"If he keeps acting like that someone will report him to the authorities and he might be stripped of rank. If hr turns traitor than he will either be captured and imprisoned or killed." Naruto explained. "But don't worry we'll see to it that doesn't happen."

"You're right we won't!!"

Just than a sound of pain was heard and they turned back to see Sasuke in the air while Lee suddenly appeared behind him prepareing some move. Naruto quickly threw a kunai in their direction forceing Lee to disengage. And not a moment too soon as Gai shaowd up and bereated Lee for his reckless actions.

Naruto walked up to Sasuke and held his hand out. Sasuke scoffed at him and Naruto sighed. He just shrugged and walked toward the stairs, but Before he started going up he turned to Sasuke.

"Perhaps now you will take this more seriously Uchiha. Your Sharingan means nothing in these exams." Naruto said and walked off.

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When they got to room 301 they were greeted by Kakashi who had his nose in his book.

"Well Im glad you all decided to participate, otherwise I wouldn't allow the rest to enter this room. Good luck on the exams."

Team 7 entered the room and could see a horde of chuunin hopefuls leaking killer intent to scare the competition. Their pece was soon interupted by Ino's sqeel of 'Sasuke-kun' which drew attention of other candidates to the rooke 9.

"Troublesome, did you have to make all that noise Ino. Now everyone is looking at us."

"Hey so you got signed up for this too, hugh?" Came Kiba's voice.

"Yeah, Kakashi thinks we can hope to at least make it to the finals if not get promoted, but if we wont make it this time than we at least get some experience." Naruto said.

"Will you kiddies quiet down, you're drawing unwanted attention to yourselves."

"And who might you be?"Asked Kiba.

"Yakushi Kabuto at your service. I thought that I should give you kids some advice, since I remember my first time in these exams."

"So this isnt your first time taking the tests?" Sakura asked.

"No it's actually my seventh time in the exams. They really are more dificult than you expect."

"Troublesome, that's what I was afraid of. This is gonna be such a drag."

"Hn, you're just probably weak that's all." Was Sasuke's reaction.

"This coming from someone who got beaten by last years dead-last." Kaburo got the reaction he wanted, he rilled up the Uchiha. "Sometimes you fail early, other times you fail in the fights or you drop out because you can't go on any longer. You can even get all the way to the finals and still fail because you don't have what it takes to be a chuunin."

"That's what I gathered as well, if it was easy the villages wouldn't be as strong as they are." Naruto thought out lous.

"Tell you what… I like you kids, so I'll give you some vital advice with these Info Cards of mine."

"Info cards?" Ino asked. "What are those?"

"They're special cards that when I pump my chakra into them, they display information depending on what it is I want to see. Take this one for example." Kabuto said. He pulled out a blank card and made several hand signs. He then put his palm down on the back of the card, and then flipped it over to reveal a map on the front with various numbers.

"This particular card shows how many Genin are partaking in the Chunin Exams, and how many are from each nation." Kabuto answered.

"Kabuto, can your cards show on each individual applicant?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh? Do you have interest in a certain applicant?" Kabuto replied. "While it is far from complete, I do have cards that have some basic information on the Genin from this year's set of applicants."

"Rock Lee from Konoha and Sabaku no Gaara from Suna." Sasuke said immediately.

"So you know their names, that no fun." Kabuto remarked.

"Alright now…" Kabuto said as he drew two cards and put some chakra into them. "Let's see what we have here…" He picked up the first card and flipped it around. "First up is Rock Lee. He is one year older than all of you. His teammates are Neji Hyuuga and Tenten. His Jonin instructor is Maito Gai. He has completed 26 D-Ranked missions and 13 C-Ranked. His taijutsu skills are amazing, and have improved drastically over this past year, however he had no other skills worth mentioning. He was a standout among last year's rookies, however he didn't apply for the Chunin Exams until this year, meaning he's a first timer like the rest of you." He put the card back into the deck and then looked at the other one. "Now Sabaku no Gaara… it's his first time taking the exam, so I don't know much about him, but He's done eight C rank and 1 B rank, and he's always come back without a scratch on him... Other than that though, I have no ideas what techniques this kid uses."

"Without a scratch from a B-rank?" Naruto asked "Even Jounin can't do something like that."

"Yes, well the pepole here ara the best of their villages, after all why send some weak gennin to another village if they'll just fail. There are many candidates from the major villages as well as the smaller ones that are trying to make a name for themselves. Take Oto for example: it's a new village so it's stil relatively weak compared to others."

Than all of a sudden three Oto Genin dashed forward and launched an attack at Kabuto. The one with spiky hair attacked high, throwing some kunai. Kabuto barely managed to jump out of the way coming face to face with the Oto Genin with bandages on his face. He dashed forward with his arm extended and took a swing at Kabuto, that he managed to duck back to avoid. However, when he returned upright, his glasses suddenly shattered.

"He managed to dodge that!" Choji said dropping his chip bag on the ground. "How did his glasses break?!"

Kabuto looked at his glasses, and then suddenly dropped them to the floor. He fell to his knees, shaking violently and then he began to vomit. . Everyone was slightly freaked out by the attack. Naruto walked forward and helped Kabuto to his feet.

"You alright?" Naruto asked as he helped him up.

"Yeah…" Kabuto replied. "I'm fine."

"If this is the competition this year, then you better add this to your cards. The Genin from Otogakure are going to make Chunin this year."

"_Kabuto dodged that attack clearly…"_ Sasuke thought. _"So what the hell happened?"_

"Kiba…" Shino said as he watched the event unfold from a distance. "What did that look like to you?"

"That Kabuto guy definitely dodged the attack." Kiba said.

"So there has to be some trick to it. Something in the attack that made him vomit like that." Thought Shino.

Just than a large cloud of smoke erupted in the front of the room. As it cleared, a large man appeared in front of a group of Chunin. He was wearing a trench coat, black gloves and black boots and a headband combined with a bandana tied on his head. His most standout feature, were the large scars on his face.

"All right you maggots shut and sit down." he shouted. "You three from Sound. Chill out or you'll be on your asses outside of this building faster than you can blink?!"

"My apologies." the bandaged member of the squad said. "It's our first exam, and we just got a little carried away."

"I am Morino Ibiki, and I am the first proctor of the Chuunin exam. The instructors will give you a number and that will be you assigned seat. So hurry up and get ready for the written exam." He said.

When everyone got seated Naruto noticed that he was sitting next to Hinata. That's when Ibiki spoke up again.

"I'm gonna go over the rules to the first test, and I refuse to repeat myself. These rules are very important, so pay attention because I'm not going to answer any questions."

"_Rules?"_ Sakura thought. _"It's a written test, what kind of rules do we need to hear for that?"_

"Do not turn your papers until I say so, now let's start. Rule number one, each of you starts with ten points. There are a total of ten questions on the test, each one worth a point each. For every question you get wrong, you will lose one of these points." Ibiki explained. "Next is rule number two. The written test is still a team event. So in light of this, not only do your scores count, but those of your teammates do too. In other words, all three members of you team's points will be linked into one final score. Now, the final rule. If during the exam one of you candidates do anything out of the ordinary, or in other words, leads a proctor into thinking that you're cheating and you get caught, it will cost two points from each member on the cheater's team."

"So than if…" One gennin thought out loud.

"That's right." Ibiki replied. "There is a good chance that during the exam, most of you will run through the total allotted points. In the event that that occurs, you will be forced to leave. Also, since no team can pass this exam without all three members, when one of you fails, the whole team fails."

There were various murmurs among the crowd as they looked at the tests before them and the Chunin that were scattered about the room.

"There are ten questions in the entire test, nine are on the papers before you, the tenth question will be given fifteen minutes before the end of the one hour limit." Ibiki said. "You may begin."

Immediately, the sound of papers flipping and pencils clacking filled the room. Naruto sighed as he flipped his paper over and looked at it. How he hated written tests. He wasn't an idiot but there was something about those tests that frustraited him to no end.

"_Alright, lets see what we've got here."_ Naruto thought to himself as he looked over the questions. Naruto paused and his eyes widened as he read the first question. _"What the fuck, there's no way that a Gennin can answer this stuff!" _Naruto looked at the other gennin and noticed that some of them were cheating quite patheticly while others were doing a really good job. _"Hmm, those who can't answer the questions alone have to cheat and collect the answers without getting caught."_ He glanced around a bit more and noticed that the guy across to the left had nearly all the answers. "_Time to liven things a bit." _Naruto thought and descreatly took out some some smoke bombs the size of ping-pong balls. Than when he saw an opeing he let them drop to the floor and roll to the guy with the answers, behind him and to the sides. He warned Hinata before the bombs blew up creating a smoke cloud. The bombs created a distraction that Naruto used to make a quick **'kawarami'** of his unsighned answer sheet with the paper of the gennin sitting infront of him to the left. When the smoke cleared there would be one hell of a surprise waiting for the poor sap.

"What the hell !!!" yelled the gennin.

"Shut up and sit down, or I'll fail you off the bat." Yelled Ibiki.

A little more time passed and the chuunin observers started throwing pepole out.

"You, number 27!" he called. Naruto looked to see a Kirigakure Genin looking at the Chunin who called his number. "You're outta here, get your stuff and leave. Numbers 17 and 38, you're gone with him."

More and more gennin were being kicked out for cheating and finally the time came for the final question.

Ibiki stood up and walked to the front of the room. The number of students had been drastically reduced, but for him that still wasn't enough. He cleared his throat, causing everyone to tense up for a moment. They pretty much figured he was going to give them the last question, so immediately every pencil went down to the final question on the test. What happened instead though, threw them for a loop.

"It's time for the final question." Ibiki announced. "However, before I give it, there is one final, absolute rule that must be announced first."

"_An absolute rule…"_ Naruto thought. _"Now what the hell is he trying to pull?"_

"First…" Ibiki said, you must choose rather or not you accept this question."

"Choose?!" Temari shouted from the back of the room. "You mean this question is optional?!"

"Correct… Know this though. If you choose not to answer the final question, you and your teammates will automatically fail the exams." Ibiki said

"What?!" a Genin from Amegakure shouted. "What kind of idiot would choose not to answer it?"

"One who knows of the other half of this rule." Ibiki shot back. "If you choose to answer the final question and get it wrong, then you and your team will still fail the test. Also, you will be banned from ever taking the Chunin Exams again, being forced to remain a Genin forever."

Various whispers were heard among the Genin in the room. The choice had basically came down to either you fail and wait almost a full year, or you fail and never get to do it again. Even Shino was slightly more tense than he was before. Suddenly, Kiba slammed his palms on the table in anger, causing all the attention in the room to be focused on him.

"You gotta be kidding me!" he shouted. "There are plenty of ninja here that have taken this exam more than once, we know there are!"

"Well, I guess you're just shit outta luck, ain't ya?" Ibiki asked with a grin. "I wasn't making the rules in the past, but I am now. Either you take the failing grade, leave now and take the exam next time, or you try, fail, and never take it again. It's your choice."

"_Talk about a hopeless situation…"_ Sakura thought. _"I kinda feel sick right now…"_

'Then let's begin, shall we. Those who do not wish to take in the final question raise their hand. Once your number is confirmed confirmed, they may leave the room with their teams."

Almost immediately several Genin began to raise their hands and leave. Naruto couldn't believe that the Ibiki had scared them shitless, even he had his doubts. Like all the others, he was faced with a lose-lose situation. He sat quietly, thinking it over. Soon one by one pepole started to raise their hands. Than Naruto noticed that Sakura shakily began to raise her hand. Not wanting to lose a chance at advanceing in rank, since he had suspicions that Ibiki was trying to pull a fast one on them Naruto raised his hand. One of the Chunin proctors began to search for his name, only to come to a stop when Naruto suddenly slammed his palm down on the table.

"Bullshit!" he shouted. "No way in hell am I about to quit! Just bring it on, because even if I end up a Genin for the rest of my life, I'll still be the best shinobi this village has ever seen! I'm not scared of you!"

Seing as that outburst changed the feelings of the candidates Ibiki decided to end the test.

"Congratulations to those of you who are left. You've just completed the first part of the Chunin Exams!"

"What?! What do you mean we're done?!" Choji asked in shock. "What about the last question?!"

"Heh… There is no tenth question, or if you want to that choice whether to take it was the tenth question!'" Ibiki replied.

"So why did we have to suffer through those other nine questions?" Shikamaru asked in a lazy tone. "That was such a waste of time."

"The point of those questions were to test your abilities of spying and gathering information." Ibiki said.

"Spying?" Kankuro asked.

"Correct." Ibiki answered. "Remember the rule I gave you at the begining? The one saying that you pass or fail as a three-man team? Using that rule I pressured you with the fear that anything you did wrong would bring your teammates down with you. The catch was that the questions on the test were beyond the answering level of the basic Genin. So most of you came to the same conclusion. That being that the only way to retain all of your answers, was in fact to cheat!"

"In other words, you set up the test with the assumption that we would cheat." Sasuke concluded.

"Exactly." Ibiki replied. "To ensure that you would be able to sneak, we snuck two Chuunin in who new all the answers to the test."

"Of course!" Kiba shouted. "Any idiot could tell, right Akamaru?!" The dog barked happily in response.

"_That idiot had no idea…"_ Sasuke thought.

"Of course, anyone who cheated in an obvious way, failed…" Ibiki said. He paused as he untied his headband/bandana combo. The Genin in the room gasped in horror as they noticed the scars, bruises, and wounds that were all over the top of his head. " When you're a Chuunin there will be times when being sloppy and getting caught in an act of espionage could cost you dearly, sometimes in ways that cost more than life itself." he tied the bandana back on, and smiled.

Just than a shadow neared the window. The glass shattered to pieces as a woman jumped through the window. A banner launched from behind her, which had her name and shinobi rank painted on it.

"All RIGHT MAGGOTS!!! I'm Mitarashi Anko and I'm the proctor for the second part of the exams. Everyone who wants to advance to the next part follow me!!"

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**Author's Note: That's te end of the first part of the exams. Next The forest of death where the real fun begins. Orochimaru will be pissed. Hehehehe**

**Thank you all for the reviews. I'll be sure to update by the end of the week. Also than more of Naruto's abilities will be revealed.**


	7. Forest of Death

Chapter 2: The awakening

**Disclaimer: "There is no 'I' in 'team'… there is, however a 'me'." Dr. Gregory House.**

**Author's Note: Thanks for the Encore. It is Shunshin no jutsu I looked at (made an error though by loosing the first 'H') Naruto is a solid chuunin in strength and abilities, around medium chuunin on his own nearing high chuunin. If he uses his "bloodline" than he can beat most Jounin. Low to medium is probable to beat, but the elite would pose a problem since the 'slow down time' so to speak is proportional to his own speed. It speeds him up 40 times right now/50 tops (he needs to strengthen the ability- getting the body used to the strain of using it like any other muscle) and since Naruto is slower than Lee without their weights. Lee spent more time doing this because he is older so it won't have bad side effects on his growth, Naruto uses less weight and for a shorter period of time because he was and still is growing. Lee had a growth sprout sooner than Naruto when looking at the same period of time at the same age. He is also older so Lee has 2 advantages in being able to safely use weight training to gain speed. For Naruto the 'speed boost' uses lots of chakra though that is not a problem but the stronger his ability to withstand the strain the less chakra he needs to achieve the same effect (Fx. using 100 units of chakra at a low tolerance gives you 40 times speed boost/ with a high tolerance the same chakra cost gives you an 80 times speed boost). As for his abilities he was told to take it easy and not to give away too much No jumping unless you're fighting Jounin He trained with some Jounin but most of it was what he got in the academy, than he got D and C rank jutsu (not too much- Sandaime is responsible after all and Naruto did have the problem with likeing to show off at the time) Naruto was taught some 30-40 D, C rank jutsu and only Anko and Jiraya broke the rule both not official tutors by teaching him B or A rank jutsu only not much Anko covered the traps poisons and such stuff a taijutsu sparing partner Kick Naru's Ass for fun . I made Naruto like he is because there are many Fics that have him a Jounin once he is 12. I don't like that and made him a Chuunin in power but since he has no exp. He is still actually a gennin he has the tools but needs to learn when and how to use them effectively . That's because first year was spent on learning what made the 'bloodline' tick. Second was chakra control, academy stuff, and such, year 3 taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu the rest it was learning new stuff from what he already knew – more jutsu more taijutsu training, beginning Kenjutsu. The last years of the academy he was only mastering what he knew and no more new stuff only from Anko and the Perv. **

**Chapter 7: Forest of Death.**

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Anko looked at all the gennin that were left after Ibiki's little tea party.

"Seventy eight. Ibiki, are you getting soft on your old age, you left twenty six teams?"

"There were more of the smart ones this year. If you want to blame someone than blame that blonde rat over there in the third row." Ibiki said as he pointed at Naruto.

"Ahh Naruto, how nice of you to give me an early birthday present. Now I'll have soo much fun cutting you kiddies down to a more manageable number. I guarantee that at least half of you wont make it past my part." Anko told them while flashing that sadistic 'You're soo fucked that you don't even know it' grin of hers.

Everyone started sweating and the less resilient ones were close to soiling themselves. Anko started walking out the door and just turned her head.

"Follow me ladies. You wouldn't want to drop out now that you survived scar face's test now would you?"

All the teams followed her and after a thirty-minute walk they reached the gates of a very dense and dark woodland area with trees growing to heights unusual even for Konoha. The ones that were visible looked like they belonged on a swamp or marsh and the branches were twisted into claw like shapes, giving the impression that they would grab and rip you to shreds. The final touch was made by a beat up sign hanging on the fence saying "Danger! Stay out!" The mere sight of the place gave many the creeps and some of the more weak-minded gennin were beginning to rethink their decisions. Seeing that the brats were already scared shitless Anko decided that it was time to start the fun.

"ALLRIGHT MAGGOTS!!! Welcome to the stage for the second test. Training area Forty Four, also known as THE FOREST OF DEATH!!!" Anko yelled out with a sinister tone and a good amount of killing intent.

"This area is filled with all kinds of poisonous plants, animals, dangerous insects larger than your head and all kinds of predators that will gladly have you as a light snack." Anko was enjoying herself greatly but gave a glare to Naruto so he wouldn't ruin her fun.

Not wanting to find out how badly she would maim his body Naruto kept his mouth shut.

"The second part of the exam will consist of a free for all unrestricted fight. All teams will be given one scroll signed either 'Heaven' or 'Earth'. Your objective is to: 1) have both scrolls, meaning that you need not only to capture another team's scroll but also protect your own scroll from being stolen by enemy teams. 2) You must reach the tower located in the middle of the area. There will be a five day time limit for the test."

Five days?" Choji shouted. "What are we supposed to do for food?!"

"I hear cannibalism works great, though I think that you will be the main course if things get down to it…" Anko replied. "It wouldn't be a survival test if we held your hand and walked you through it all, would it? The forest is full of berries, fish wild game and such that you should be able to use for food. Did I mention there are also ferocious beasts, deadly insects, poisonous snakes, predators of all kind in there to deal with?" Anko said with an innocent tone in her voice. "I did, didn't I. There's that and the fact that when you all enter, you become each others enemies, it doesn't matter that you're friends or such. That being said it's got to be obvious by now that there's no way in hell that all teams pass this part and I'm willing to bet that even the thirteen teams that could pass won't. As time grows shorter, the trials will come harder and faster. The time needed for recovery from injuries and mistakes will become a luxury that is rarely available. You'll also be surrounded by enemies at all times, so you'll have to sleep with one eye open. In addition to those who will die trying to capture a scroll while protecting their own, many of you will probably die due to poison, starvation, dehydration, and exhaustion."

Anko paused as she let all that sink in. There were questionable looks on all of the faces of the Genin even the hardballs and Naruto included.

"Now that you know what attractions are awaiting you, I'll tell you what makes you fail. First, if you're not in the tower by the time the five days are over or if you won't have both scrolls you fail. Second, if your teammate isn't with you by the end of the test your team fails, the same goes if your teammate gets killed. Third, if you leave the forest for any reason during the test, you fail. Finally, you can't open the scrolls during the test, if you do there will be unpleasant consequences to deal with.

After Anko finished her speech she handed out consent forms to the candidates.

"Consent forms?" Kankuro asked as he took one from Anko. "What do we need these for?"

"You have to sign these forms so that in the event of your death I won't be responsible. Once you have them signed go over to that tent. The two chuunin proctors will hand you one of the scrolls. After that you will be escorted to one of the gates and await the start of the second test. Oh, and a word of advice…don't die."

The teams went to separate areas to fill out the forms and devise a plan for the test.

"I got to hand it to her that trick with the tent and the scare tactic was a performance of the highest level." Naruto said.

"What do you mean Naruto?" Asked Sakura.

"I know her a bit and I know how she loves messing with peoples minds. The tent is meant as a smoke screen, so that we won't know who has what scroll. It's like Ibiki said: gathering information can be a matter of life and death. "

"You know that psycho?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, I know her. Bumped into her once and made her drop her dango, almost cost me my life too. She works with scar face from the first test in the ANBU torture and interrogation dept."

"She's scary as hell. So what do we do about the scrolls?"

"I say we head for the tower and set an ambush for other teams instead of running aimlessly hoping to find one."

"Hn, I think that we should head for the river and than look for the teams. Everyone will need to go to a river for water."

"That's true that everyone needs a water source but all teams have to reach the tower. By setting a trap there we get to choose who we strike and when. We also get to conserve our energy for a fight. Some will attack at night when less experienced teams will be sleeping. If we run into a team on our way the tower than we have less work to do." Naruto explained.

"Both plans are good, so let's wait till we're in the forest and pick than." Sakura proposed.

"I'm in."

"Hn, me to, they won't last against me."

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When all the teams returned they received their scrolls and took positions at their gates. It was nearing noon and the second stage will begin any minute now. Team seven stood outside their gate doing the same thing as every other team – waiting.

Finally the bell rang and the gates were open. Each team ran into the forest of death at full speed bent on one objective: finding another team, capturing the missing scroll and reaching the tower at the center of the forest.

After traveling a few miles into the forest, Team Seven stopped, listening to the screams coming from some ways away. Sasuke simply smirked, "Hn. Sounds like it started already."

Naruto frowned, looking disgruntled for a second, and said "I got to take a leek be right back."

He left for a nearby cluster of trees, walking behind it to answer nature's call.

"_Good thing I noticed his presence, though I can't say that he's good at concealing his presence."_

When the Ame-nin moved in to take Naruto down he was surprised to find 'Naruto' turn into smoke. Using the momentary distraction Naruto dropped down from the tree and knocked the Ame-nin out cold. After making sure that his 'guest' was tied up, Naruto proceeded to search the guy for an earth scroll. Sadly the guy didn't have one on him, meaning that one of his teammates must have it. Since there was nothing keeping him there Naruto returned to his team.

"Hn, what took you so long dobe?"

"I had a little run in with a rain-nin. Too bad he didn't have an earth scroll with him."

"We should get going before more people show up. We don't want to be ambushed by someone at a wrong time." Sakura said.

"Right lets go."

Team seven traveled slowly for an hour before taking a brake to eat, since it was nearly four hours from the beginning of the first exam and almost two since they entered the Forest of death.

"I don't know about you guys but I think we should find a password in case we get separated. If it was someone else, someone stronger than that Ame-nin and a whole team instead of just one person things could have turned out differently."

"Hn, I agree. It will help us capture an enemy that may have a scroll we need."

"But what should we use as a password?" Asked Sakura.

"How about what's my favorite Ramen flavor?" Naruto suggested.

"What good will that do dobe?"

"Than all we have to do is say Miso Ramen and were in the clear."

"Than, now that that's settled we need to get going."

Five minutes after Team 7 took off in the direction of the tower a sudden powerful wind blew through the clearing, knocking the group away from each other. When it had all settled down again, Sasuke stood from the bush he and Sakura jumped into.

"Where's Naruto?"

"I don't know but that wind had to be a jutsu so be on guard Sakura. Whoever sent that jutsu wanted to separate us so he could pick us off one by one."

Just than the bushes started moving and from them emerged Naruto.

"Man that was some wind, you guys alright?"

Seeing Naruto, Sakura wanted to say that they were fine but Sasuke put his hand on her mouth before she could speak.

"Dobe, what's the password?"

Sakura quickly realized what was going on and listened carefully.

"That's easy, Miso Ramen."

Sakura nudged Sasuke to let him know that the answer was wrong, and as soon as she did Sasuke threw a kunai at the fake Naruto.

"What the hell, teme!!? Why did you throw that thing at me."

"We know you're not the real Naruto so drop the act."

'Naruto' smirked in a way unbecoming of the real Naruto. The look was evil and malevolent, something that didn't belong on Naruto's face. In a puff of smoke, Naruto was replaced by a grass-nin with long black hair and a straw hat. The imposter smirked and spoke up.

"Ku,ku,ku very impressive Sasuke-kun. I should have expected something like that from a member Uchiha clan; I'm going to have so much fun.

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Naruto got up and waited for his head to stop spinning, however even if a bit dizzy he noticed a shadow closing in on him and managed to jump away just in time. When he got a good look on his attacker he cursed his luck.

"_Fuck! Just my luck." _He thought. "_Why the hell is it always snakes that want to eat me."_

"Damn you're one big bastard." He said as he started making hand signs.

With a loud hiss, the snake lunged at him, jaws wide open, intent on making him dinner. Naruto finished making the hand signs and called out the name of the jutsu as he slammed his hands on the ground.

"**Doton: Pikes of the Underworld". **Instantly three giant rock spikes shot out of the ground and impaled the snake. Naruto smirked in satisfaction but it quickly left his face when the snake poofed out of existence. An angry scowl instantly appeared on his face, "Damn. I better get back to Sasuke and Sakura."

He took off in the direction of his teammates. "_That was no ordinary snake but a summon. Either Anko decided to spice things up by sending a few summons or someone else sent it to take us out. Either way I got to hurry."_

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Meanwhile Anko sat outside the Forest of death and listened to the terrified screams coming from within

"Ahh, now that's music for my ears. I wonder who will make it past this part of the test?"

Just than a cloud of smoke that appeared behind her cut her musings short. The woman turned around to see a Chuunin with glasses and a hitai-ate tied on top of his head like a bandana. He looked worried about something.

"Terrible news, Anko!" the Chuunin replied.

"This soon? What the hell could the problem, the exams started barely two hours ago?"

"We've found dead bodies! Three of them!"

"Dead bodies?"

"Yes! Please, it's better if you see for yourself! Come quickly!"

Anko followed the Chuunin and they ended up at a small graveyard located in the outer parts of Konoha. Two other Chuunin were already there, examining the dead bodies that Anko was informed about.

"Here they are…" the Chuunin told her. Anko walked over for a closer look. "We went through their personal belongings. They were a team sent here from Kusagakure to take part in the Chuunin Exams. The weird thing about them though, is that their faces are gone, almost as if they had been melted off. The skin is smooth, like they never even had them to begin with."

Anko's eyes widened as the words of the Chuunin came together in her mind.

"_No it can't be, what could he possibly be doing here?"_ she thought. She quickly turned back to the Chuunin. "Quick, show me the pictures from their I.D. cards!" The Chuunin produced them at once and handed them to Anko. She gasped in horror as she saw them. "SHIT!"

"What is it?" the Chuunin asked in confusion.

"Just go get Hokage-sama. Tell him about what you found, and that he send ANBU into the Forest of Death!" Anko ordered. "I'm going ahead to catch the imposters!"

The Chuunin nodded and left to do as he was told. Anko ran into the forest and began jumping from tree to tree. Her heart was racing in fear, anticipation, and anger.

"_I don't know what sort of games you're playing…"_ she thought _"…but I'll make sure that you wont live past this day."_

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The Kusa-kunoichi smirked as he looked at Sakura and Sasuke who activated his sharingan.

"Ahh the famed Sharingan how lovely, what say you that we begin the fun." she said as he pulled out an earth scroll.

"This is what you need, isn't it. That's what you need to be able to advance further since you posses a Heaven scroll."

Her long tongue wrapped itself around the scroll as he brought it to his lips. At an agonizingly slow pace, she stuck it down his throat, swallowing it. Grinning evilly, she stared at them, pulling her bottom left eyelid down slightly, "Now let's begin the battle for each other's scrolls…with our lives on the line."

The Kusa-nin's eyes bulged a bit and a paralyzing fear ran through Sakura and Sasuke, and their minds pictured themselves with kunai protruding from their foreheads, blood flying everywhere from their bodies, and all kinds of gruesome deaths. With shaky limbs, Sasuke keeled over, throwing up his lunch. _"Genjutsu? No, this is just fear. His killing intent is doing this to us. Who the hell is this guy?"_

The grass-nin chuckled lightly, "Ku,ku,ku you can no longer move Sasuke-kun. I had hoped that our little meeting would last a little longer, but I guess it's a little too much to expect. I guess I'll have to cut our time together short."

With an almost lazy flick of her wrist, she flung two kunai at the two gennin.

"_Damn it move."_ Sasuke thought as his hand reached into his kunai holster and stabbed himself lightly in the leg. Using pain to overcome the fear, Sasuke picked Sakura up and dashed for cover, barely dodging the kunai aimed at his head. He stopped behind some trees, panting in exertion and to stabilize his breathing. His little break didn't last long before a giant snake lunging at him interrupted it and smashed the branch he was standing on. Sasuke made some hand signs and moments later a '**Goukakyu no jutsu'** combined with some well-aimed kunai to the head hit the snake killing it. With the infernal thing dead, Sasuke leaned back against the tree he was in, sighing in relief. His breath caught when he heard a disturbing noise coming from the snake he had just killed. Sasuke turned his head back towards the humungous reptile and his eyes widened in horror as the grass-nin rose from the snake's corpse, staring at him.

"You guys shouldn't relax for even a moment. Prey should always be trying to run away in the presence of a predator like me."

Sasuke engaged the Kusa-freak in a taijutsu fight but his opponent was faster and clearly toying with him. When the enemy positioned himself the Uchiha did some hand seals and fired the **"Katon: Hosenka no jutsu"** at his target. The Kusa-nin slid past all of them when he felt something wrap around her torso. Hidden in the fireballs were shuriken tied with wire that Sasuke used to execute the** "Sharingan soufuusha sannotachi- Sharingan windmill triple blade****tech"** in order to tie the enemy to the tree and proceeded to use the **"Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu" **to fry the kusa gennin.

"You did it Sasuke-kun you beat her!" Yelled Sakura.

They heard a noise coming from the direction of the burnt kunoichi and turned in her direction, only to find to their horror that the kusa-nin was still very much alive and part of her face melted off revealing a slited yellow eye and pale skin underneath.

That was too much Sasuke, sure he was good and trained hard but this was clearly no ordinary gennin. The young Uchiha took out the Heaven scroll and put it in front of himself.

"Here." Sasuke said as he eyed the Kusagakure kunoichi. "If it's this damn scroll you want, then it's all yours. Just take it, leave, and leave us alone!"

"Sasuke what are you doing?" Asked a disturbed Sakura.

"If we wont give her the scroll than were toast."

"Are you crazy, we need that scroll to pass!" Sakura said in disbelief at her teammates actions.

"Don't be too hard on Sasuke-kun… I mean, it is only the natural defense of prey to try and distract the predator with tastier bait to save itself from the predator jaws." Said the Kusa-nin. "Too bad for you that I'm more interested in you than the scroll."

The Kusa-nin snaked round the branch and headed for Sasuke when a bunch of shuriken imbedded themselves in the branch right in the kus-nins path, effectively stopping his assault for a short while.

"Sorry I'm late, Sasuke, Sakura," a voice said, "But I had a little trouble with the local wildlife's dinner arrangements."

Sakura and Sasuke looked towards the source of the voice to see Naruto standing on a branch way above them.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, "I know you think you're here to save us, but run away! This one's on a whole other level!"

The grass-nin chuckled, "Looks like you successfully defeated that giant snake, Naruto-kun."

"Yeah well, every time I got a snake as a pet they tend to die. Maybe they just don't like me?"

"I told you I'd give you the scroll, just take it and leave us!" Sasuke screamed and threw the scroll to the kusa-nin.

"WHAT?" Naruto yelled.

Naruto jumped in front of its path, snatching out of the air a few feet from Sasuke. Sasuke rounded on him, yelling in his frustration, "Bastard! Don't you understand the situation?"

Naruto punched him, watching as Sasuke landed a few yards away. Sasuke was infuriated, "What's this all of the sudden?"

Naruto's cold whisper was quiet, yet somehow; the entire group assembled could here it.

"You're a fake Sasuke, aren't you?"

"You total moron!" Sasuke shouted, "I'm the real Sasuke!"

"BULLSHIT!" Naruto snapped, "There's no way a useless coward like you is the real Sasuke! What guarantee is there that he'll just kill us rather than let us go if we give him the scroll?"

"Naruto-kun," the grass-nin chuckled, "You are correct. Since I can just kill you and take the scroll. After all, It's much more fun. "He bit his thumb, running it down a tattoo on his arm, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Naruto saw that this guy meant business. He was clearly too powerful to be a gennin, more like a Jounin in strength. Deciding that desperate times call for desperate measures, Naruto 'Jumped' behind the grass-nin's back and threw a powerful roundhouse kick to the head, interrupting the summoning. The sudden kick to the head sent the snake user flying into a tree several feet away. The only thing that went threw the kusa-nin's mind before a bone shattering impact was 'how was it possible that the brat was in front of him one moment, and than kicking him from the back the next'.

Sasuke and Sakura were equally baffled by the sudden disappearance and reappearance of their teammate.

"Urgh, that was most impressive Naruto-kun" the man said, "What was that wonderful trick you used just now?"

"You'd love to know that, wouldn't you" Naruto said in a tone that could rile up just about anyone "Unfortunately I'm afraid that I can't tell you. You see both ojisan and Anko-chan told me not to talk to strangers…" Naruto said innocently "…and you seem pretty fuckin' strange to me!"

"It doesn't matter, after I'm done with you you'll tell me everything or I'll just dissect your corpse." The nin lunged at Naruto who threw three of his special shuriken, that looked more like square pieces of metal with a rounded arch cutting into the sides from one corner to the other and had some seals on them. Naruto quickly performed the **"Shuriken kage bunshin no jutsu"** instantly turning three shuriken into thirty. The aggressor's eyes widened as he saw a wall of metal blades heading right for him. Just a few more hand seals and the blonde called out **"Shuriken Daibakuha – Shuriken great explosion"**, making the metallic blades explode, each with a power of an exploding tag, right in the man's face. The blast sent the man flying into another tree where Naruto 'Jumped', as soon as he confirmed his opponents trajectory, and waited for his arrival while preparing a 'warm welcome' courtesy of a **"Katon: Karyu Endan". **Naruto watched asthe white-hot flames engulfed their target.

Naruto decided to retreat while he still could. He had a nagging suspicion that his opponent outclassed him by a large margin, even more so than Kakashi or Gai, and the only reason he got such good results was because his opponent had underestimated him and was taken by surprise by the blonde's sudden use of an unknown technique. What's worse is the fact that that person could summon snakes like Anko, and she was the student of the treacherous Snake Sannin Orochimaru. That left only two options for Naruto: either that person was a Jounin spy trained and sent by Orochimaru or what's worse it was the Snake Sannin himself. But what could he possibly want with a team of gennin taking part in the Chuunin exams, and why his team?

He 'Jumped' to his team, knocked them unconscious and took off with them over his shoulder 'Jumping' again further away from their assailant before he got over that attack.

"_Better get out of here before he brings out the big guns." _He thought_ "Right now getting to safety and completing this part as fast as possible is a priority Once I find a safe spot to rest I'll just send some __**Kage bunshin**__ to scout for any teams nearby."_

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The whole point of the second test was to cut down the remaining teams from the first exam by as many as possible. Kankuro and Temari both knew this well. It wasn't that hard to get it, seeing as how the examinator lady enjoyed talking about that aspect the most when giving out the rules of this test. The problem though, was their brother Gaara, who would kill anyone they came across just like that. That meant that whatever opposing team they ran into wouldn't be hanging to either their scroll or their lives for too long. Right now his victims will no doubt be the three Ame-ninja who made the grave mistake of trying to steal their scroll.

The leader of the Amegakure ninja turned to Gaara. "Just hand us your scroll, and we'll let you all live…"

Gaara turned his stare back to the Amegakure team. Kankuro and Temari backed up, recognizing the glare on Gaara's face. It was the one he had before he usually killed someone. It gave the two the creeps, mainly because it was the only emotion the boy ever showed.

"Anyone who crosses me is dead…" Gaara said coldly as he stared at the leader of the Amegakure team.

"I like the sound of that…" the enemy shinobi said. "Let's get to it then!"

The Amegakure ninja pulled out several umbrellas that he had strapped to his back and launched them all into the air. He smirked as he ran through several hand signs, though Gaara didn't seem to be impressed and simply continued to stand with his arms crossed, watching as the Amegakure ninja attacked. Te umbrellas seemed to stop in the air as they opened and began spinning, unleashing a barrage of needles, all of which flew downward, heading straight for Gaara.

"You're completely surrounded!" the Amegakure ninja shouted in satisfaction. "There aren't any gaps or blind spots with my Jouro Senbon! Just a thousand needles that will use my chakra to zero in on you like missiles! An easy and effective end!"

As he finished his statement, the needles crashed down on Gaara blowing up a dust cloud, causing the attacker to smile as he pictured Gaara's bloody dead corpse. He waited with anticipation for the dust to clear, and when it did his smile was replaced by a look of horror and disbelief. Gaara stood there unharmed, protected by some kind of sand shield. All the needles stuck out of it like some kind of freaky porcupine, not even one reached their target.

"You bore me." Gaara said in a low menacing voice "I hope you will give me lots of…**Blood!!"**

"That's impossible…" the Amegakure ninja gasped. "All the needles were stopped by that wall of sand…"

"Of course…" Kankuro said. "Something like that won't work against Gaara. "It was your own bad luck and stupidity that you got stuck fighting him… Gaara's sand acts as an impenetrable defense. Only Gaara has ever mastered this. He is able to form the sand into a barrier, as well as manipulate its shape, size, and density. The best part though, is that he does it without a conscious thought at all. It just happens when he needs it to. In other words, a frontal assault is useless…"

Kankuro couldn't help, but smile as he noticed Gaara suddenly begin to focus on the Amegakure ninja, and sand began to flow around the attacking Ame-nin, wrapping around his feet, arms, hands, body, and head. Soon, the man was cocooned inside of a giant mass of sand. Gaara slowly began to rotate his hand as the sand cocoon rose into the air, hovering there momentarily. The Ame-nin tried to escape, twisting left and right, screaming, but it was futile. Gaara had him right where he wanted him. Gaara picked up one of the umbrellas from the ground and lifted it over his head before closing his fist, making the **"Sand coffin"** implode, crushing the man and sending a rain of blood all over the place. The same thing quickly happened to the other Ame-nin, who died not long after their leader. Gaara's sand brought back the 'Heaven scroll' they needed and the Suna trio headed for the tower.

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Unknown to both the Sand team and Team 8, who were observing the whole event, a shadow clone sent by Naruto reached that clearing right in time to see the gruesome finalee. When the team from Suna left it noticed Kurenai's team hiding in the bushes on the other side of the clearing. After making sure that they were fine the clone dispelled itself, sending the gathered information back to Naruto.

Meanwhile team 8 was discussing what they just witnessed.

"Did you see what that guy did to those Ame guys?" Kiba asked, "That guy's a real monster, I really wouldn't want to fight him."

"It was your idea to scout for other teams to either lower the numbers of the teams in the next round, or to find out their abilities." Shino said calmly. "Did you feel their power?"

"Yeah, Akamaru won't stop shaking. That guy is unbelievable, we better get back to the tower."

With that team 8 begun their trek to the tower.

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Naruto sat at the entrance to the small cave at the edge of the clearing he found tending to the fire. It had been four hours since their fight with Orochimaru and neither Sakura nor Sasuke had woken up yet. He couldn't really blame them though; they used most of their energy trying to stay alive during the time they were separated. Naruto thought about the information his clones gathered.

Team 8 probably got to the tower by now, so he may be fighting them in the final round. Team 10 had yet to find a second scroll, since they tried to keep off the radar and get a scroll with the use of their jutsu when they get the chance. He needn't worry, after all Shikamaru is a genius when it comes to battle plans. What worried him most was that team from Suna. The two older ones were nothing he couldn't handle, just a puppeteer and a wind user. He can easily overwhelm a puppet user with his clones' jutsu and a good plan, the same could be said about the girl. It was their teammate that was the cause of his worry. That sand attack and the way he killed those Rain-nin without remorse was enough to set off warning lights in his head. The sheer bloodlust and that maniacal look in his eyes easily helped to file him as an insane, homicidal maniac that kills to satisfy his thirst for blood. It didn't go unnoticed by Naruto that his teammates were terrified of him. Than there was that strange feeling he got when near that Sand-nin. It felt some how familiar, unsettling and unnatural. What ever it is he better remain very cautious when near that guy.

Finally Sasuke and Sakura began to wake up, and soon they will begin their assault of pointless questions.

"Ohh. My head." Said Sakura before looking at Naruto. "Why the hell did you hit me, baka?"

"Well Sakura it was the quickest way to getting out of there. If I had just told you we need to do that you and Sasuke would waste precious time with stupid questions that would allow that guy to get back up and hit us with his full power."

"But, he was weakened from the fight with Sasuke and you managed to hit him several times and than there was that fire jutsu you used."

"Yeah dobe what was that jutsu you used?"

"What jutsu?"

"Don't play dumb with me dobe, I demand you tell me that jutsu, I need it to kill him!"

"You can demand all you want, I don't have to tell you shit. As for that guy we were fighting, he wasn't hurt too much by our attacks and I only managed to land a hit because he was toying with you and underestimated me. If we had stayed there any longer he would stop playing and kill us."

Sasuke was boiling in rage that Naruto dismissed him so casually and was about to rant on, but was cut off when Sakura spoke up again.

"What do we do now?"

"We wait till dawn, than we head out to the tower and set our trap if we find someone along the way we take them out." Naruto explained, "We'll take turns keeping watch, since I was doing it first Sasuke will take the next one and you will take the last one."

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The night passed without incident and Sasuke woke Sakura up for her shift at five. At first nothing unusual happened but at eight the Oto team that Team 7 met before the start of the first test.

The Oto genin got caught in a very subtle Genjutsu cast by Sakura, that made them think that Sakura was about to fall asleep while Sasuke and Naruto were out due to a previous fight. What they didn't know was that Naruto and Sasuke were hidden. Thanks to Naruto's shadow clones they knew that team Oto was in the area and heading their way.

"Well, well, well look what we have here." Dosu said.

Sakura faking surprise shakingly spoke up.

"Don't come any closer or you'll regret it." She said while pulling out a kunai.

"Ha, ha, ha. Did you hear that guys, she thinks she can stop us with that little thing." Zaku spoke up.

"We're just ordered by Orochimaru-sama to kill Sasuke-kun, you can go if you want." Kin said.

"Really now, I didn't know you were so popular with foreign kunoichi teme." Naruto said as he came out of hiding.

The Oto team was clearly surprised to see Naruto standing on a tree branch and another lying in the small cave. Just than the Sasuke and Naruto in the cave went up in smoke.

"Shut up dobe, let's just take them down and head for the tower."

Naruto sent a clone at Dosu while Sasuke and Sakura engaged Zaku and Kin. Dosu swung his right arm at the 'Naruto clone' making it feel the effects of his melody arm. Seeing the clone helpless Dosu wanted to take it out quickly and go for the original, but he was kicked in the back by the real Naruto, who 'Jumped' behind him when he was busy fighting the clone, instead. Sakura threw some shuriken in Kin's direction, who dodged them and threw some senbon back at Sakura. The needles missed but than Kin smirked and pulled on the wires connected to the bells on the senbon, activating the genjutsu. Sakura started to feel the effects of the illusion and began to lose balance. She was on one knee and looked at the Oto kunoichi only to see a whole bunch of them.

"Hmph, now you see that you're no match for me. Look at your hair, I bet you spend more time making yourself look pretty instead of training. Now I'll have fun killing you."

Kin didn't know that Sakura made some quick hand signs, and as soon as Kin was less than ten steps away, Sakura called out her jutsu "**Doton: Hari no Toko – Bed of needles"**. Before Kin knew it the area under her feet turned into many small needles made from rock, piercing her feet and making her drop the illusion. As soon as she was free Sakura ended her jutsu and threw a solid punch at Kin's jaw, sending her tumbling to the ground. _"I have to remember to thank Naruto for that scroll he lent me."_

Zaku wasn't faring any better. His short taijutsu bout with Sasuke left him bruised and he didn't even land more than five hits on the Uchiha while he received quite a beating. Zaku aimed his hands at Sasuke.

"Eat this, "**Zankuuha"**

A strong blast of air headed Sasuke's way but he managed to evade it and send several small fireballs with shuriken hidden in them at the Oto gennin. Zaku was cut down but still wanted to continue.

"I won't be beaten by the likes of you, **"Zankyokuha".**

A large blast of wind tore through the small clearing, kicking up dust and dirt as it hit its target. Trees were destroyed and logs were obliterated. No inanimate object in its path was spared the horrible fate.

Zaku smirked, "Hehe. I've blown him away!"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you." Came Naruto's voice.

Zaku turned to see Sasuke standing next to Naruto.

"I took the liberty of moving the target somewhere else. Hope you don't mind" Naruto faked innocence.

That was the last thing Zaku saw before a 'Naruto clone' hit him in the back of the head, knocking his lights out.

"I could have taken him alone dobe." Said an angry Sasuke.

"I know that teme but you were taking too long." Naruto said nonchalantly "Lets see what kind of scroll they have and head for the tower."

As it turned out the team from Otogakure was in possession of an earth scroll that team 7 was in need of. The journey to the tower took four hours and team 7 entered the tower before one p.m. of the second day. Inside they found a large scroll hanging on the wall. Walking over to it, they tried to decipher its meaning, a bit confused when they found a few words missing from it all. When Naruto's eyes found the words "Heaven" and "Earth" he called out to his teammates:

"Hey, Sakura, teme, open the scrolls!"

Nodding, they did as he said, peeling the scrolls open. Sasuke, noticed what they were, quickly dropped his scroll and backed away, telling Sakura to do the same. A pillar of smoke rose from the scrolls, obscuring the person who had been summoned. Naruto and Sakura gasped as the smoke dissipated.

Iruka grinned at Naruto, "Hey. Long time no see."

"What's going on?" Sasuke asked, his tone demanding.

Iruka smiled at them, "At the end of the Second test, it's set up so that we Chuunins meet up with the exam takers. I was allowed to be the one to greet you. So, congratulations! You three pass the second test!"

Naruto grinned at him, Sakura smiled and Sasuke smirked as he leaned against the wall.

"Well you guys still got here early, only two teams have finished so far." Iruka said.

"Really, which ones?" Asked a curious Sakura.

"I think it was the team from Suna and Kurenai's team."

"That's what my clone reported yesterday when he stumbled into a fight between the sand team and some Ame-nin. Guess team 8 had their scroll too."

"Anyway, you still have over three days until this stage ends so I suggest you rest and do some light training before the third part." Iruka said before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"You heard the man, lets go."

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By the end of the fifth day only seven teams passed the forest of death. Three rookie teams from Konoha along with team Gai and Kabuto's team, the team from Suna and the Sound team.

The twenty-one Genin remaining stood in a peculiar arena, waiting for the instructions to the third exam. In the front of the room stood a group consisting of Chuunin, Jounin, and the Hokage. Protruding from the front wall was a pair of stone hands forming the "Ram" seal.

Anko smirked at them from where she stood, "Congratulations on passing! Hokage-sama will now explain the third test, so listen carefully!"

The Sandaime took a step forward, "Before we begin, there is something I'd like you to know."

He tugged his hat down slightly, "Why do we have all the alliance countries taking this exam together? 'To promote friendship amongst the countries' 'To raise the level of Shinobi'… I don't want you to be confused about the true meaning. This exam is a replacement for war among the allied countries."

Sandaime's face was impassive as he took a puff on his pipe, "If you go back in time, the current allies were enemies who fought each other over who would rule. In order to prevent wasteful fighting, the stage that those countries chose for fighting…That is the origin of the Chuunin Exams."

Sarutobi continued, after answering the questions thrown at him, "It is true that this exam decides who is to become Chuunin, but it is also an opportunity for the different countries to show off their ninja to the important figures who watch this third exam. A Shinobi village is only as strong as it's weakest link.

"Now then," he paused for a second, "On to the third exam…"

"If I may Hokage-sama…?" A sick looking Jounin appeared in front of the Hokage.

Sandaime nodded, "By all means…"

The Jounin turned toward the Genin, "I am Gekko Hayate, and I am the referee. Before the third test, I'm afraid we'll have to hold a preliminary. Since we are going to begin right away, I must ask any who wish to quit to do so now."

None of the gathered candidates did, so he continued.

"Right then, (cough, cough) if no one wishes to forfeit, let's begin the preliminary rounds. If you'll turn your attention to the screen behind me…"

Everyone turned their gazes to the large screen behind the sickly Jounin, watching as the blackness faded into a dark gray. The letters 'vs.' lit up in the very center. Above them was the name "Uchiha Sasuke" and below it was "Yakushi Kabuto".

"Now," Hayate said, "If these two participants would come to the front…"

They walked forward, each one assured of his victory. Gekko Hayate made a motion towards the stands, "Now if everyone else would please leave the arena."

When everyone had left the area for the stands, he said, "Now…Please begin."

Kabuto made a hand seal, "Are you ready, Sasuke-kun?"

He slipped his left hand into his kunai pouch, his right hovering in front of his stomach. He withdrew a few shuriken, while, simultaneously, Sasuke withdrew a Kunai from the holster on his thigh. Without warning, Kabuto flung his shuriken at Sasuke, who knocked them away with a swipe of his kunai. Kabuto engaged Sasuke in a Taijutsu fight but since the boy had his Sharingan active it wasn't an easy fight. Seeing no alternative Kabuto activated his chakra scalpels after dodging a **"Goukakyu no jutsu"** from the Uchiha. Kabuto lunched himself at Sasuke taking him off guard and landing a hit on his left forearm. This angered the Uchiha who used the Hosenka shuriken combo and managed to wound Kabuto in the leg and cut his right arm. Kabuto wanted to heal his leg but Sasuke got close and kicked the young medic into the air, using the move he copied from Lee, forcing the Genin into the air. As fast as his body would allow, Sasuke followed him, appearing beneath Kabuto's airborne body.

Sasuke sent a light poke to his opponent's body, "It's over."

Using the other Genin's body, Sasuke flipped over, sending a kick towards Kabuto's stomach. It was blocked with relative ease. Sasuke used the block to add speed and power to himself, performing a 180 and bringing his fist crashing into the older boy's face. Now only a few feet above the ground, Sasuke used his momentum to bring a solid kick into the stomach, forcing him to collide painfully with the ground and Sasuke's foot at the same time.

"Shishi Rendan!" Sasuke said.

Kabuto managed to get up but before Sasuke managed to attack again the medic threw in the towel.

"Sorry Sasuke-kun but I'm afraid that last attack broke some of my ribs, I do hope for a rematch one day."

With that Hayate declared Sasuke the winner. While Kabuto went to the med-bay.

The screen lit up with the next combatants, "**Yamanaka Ino vs. Dosu Kinuta**"

The second fight didn't last long and Ino quickly got dispatched into unconsciousness.

The third fight was between Shikamaru and Kabuto's teammate Yoroi, who got trapped in the young Nara's **"Kagemane no jutsu" **while trying to get close and drain his chakra. Shikamaru had taken his kunai holster off and when he made movements to pull out a kunai his opponent did the same. Since only Yoroi had a kunai in his hand, Shikamaru placed his hand by his neck. Yoroi's kunai was at his neck and the Nara threatened that if he didn't give up he would either slit his throat or stab him in the legs and vital organs. Having no choice Yoroi gave up.

The fourth mach was between Temari and Tenten. It ended just like Naruto expected with Temari being able to deflect all of Tenten's attacks and than sending a gust of wind to finish her off.

The fifth fight was between Sakura and Shino. Though Sakura had some good jutsu and even managed to take out some of the Aburame's bugs, she was still outclassed by him in Taijutsu and got her chakra drained by Shino's chakra eating beetles.

Naruto had to fight two times because of the uneven number of participants. The sixth fight between Zaku and Naruto wasn't too spectacular, since there were many witnesses Naruto used the trick 'Azuma Momochi' (Zabuza) taught him. He performed the **"Kirigakure no jutsu"** and proceeded to scare the shit out of Zaku by imitating Zabuza's voice and listing the eight vital points. Zaku being unable to locate his opponent blasted his airwaves throughout the arena, but was sorely disappointed when the blonde landed a vicious kick to his back. To make things more interesting Naruto proceeded to throw threats about striking a ninth point, something dear to any man. Hearing this Anko started chuckling at the devious idea of the blonde. It proved the point to Zaku when some shuriken grazed his manhood a few times. Still the Oto gennin didn't give up so Naruto finished him off with a powerful kick to the jaw that sent Zaku into a wall.

Naruto's second fight was the tenth fight where he faced Chouji. Not wanting his friend to be upset he dragged the battle as long as he could, by avoiding the Akimichi's attacks before finally using a doton jutsu to box in his opponent and forcing him to submit.

The seventh fight was between Kiba and Lee. Kiba, remembering from Kabuto's info cards, that Lee was last years dead-last began to throw taunts at him about how a dead-last won't be too much for him and Akamaru. He was arrogant enough to actually say that he would end the fight with one punch. In his overconfidence Kiba forgot that Kabuto also said that Lee was a Taijutsu expert. No matter how many of his clan's jutsu he used Kiba just couldn't land a hit on the green gennin. In the end Kiba was left humiliated when Lee used his speed and superior Taijutsu skills to quickly defeat his opponent without even taking off his weights.

The eighth fight between Kin and Kankuro was a short one since Kankuro was able to fool the Oto kunoichi with his puppet while he himself held a kunai at her throat.

The ninth fight was a grudge match where Hinata faced her cousin Neji. In the beginning of the fight Neji went off with his fate crap and how Hinata was weak and won't be able to change in order to strip her of her confidence. It gave, however less results than Neji had hoped for and he was forced to battle Hinata, who received words of encouragement from Naruto and the others. She put up a very good fight but was still unable to overcome Naji's superior abilities in the Hyuuga taijutsu style: Juuken. When he finally disabled Hinata's ability to use the Juuken Neji began a merciless assault on his cousin. Naruto seeing what Neji was doing was boiling with anger, and Lee's explanation of the whole problem only made things worse. When Hinata got back up after Neji's attack and expressed her feelings about the division of the Hyuuga and Neji's suffering, the Hyuuga prodigy became furious and launched himself at Hinata aiming to kill her. Luckily he was stopped by Gai, Hayate, Kakashi, Kurenai and Naruto who appeared in front of him. Only after he was stopped did Neji notice the sword tip imbedded in his shoulder, the blade held in Naruto's hand. Many wondered where the sword came from, but only the Jounin saw Naruto unseal it from his belt. After that Neji began to rant about how the Main branch gets preferential treatment, and Naruto promised him a very painful end if they ever fight in the finals.

The last fight, if it could be called that, was between Gaara and Kabuto's other teammate Misumi Tsurugi. Gaara, who was restless from the sight of blood, wanted to sate that thirst as fast as he could. Misumi wasn't even able to use his elastic ability before Gaara's sand trapped him and crushed into a wet bloody stain on the floor and walls.

With the preliminary rounds complete the victors drew their numbers for the final fights in one months time.

The pairs were:

First fight: Naruto vs. Neji

Second fight: Shino vs. Kankuo

Third fight: Sasuke vs. Lee

Fourth fight: Shikamaru vs. Temari

Fifth fight Dosu vs. Gaara

**Authors Note2: To InARealPickle:**

**I'm sorry but I got my Microsoft Office from Germany and this shit only checks German grammar. If you want you can be the beta for this story since I know my limitations in English. I'm more of Spoken English than Written English type anyway so there are times when I think things are O.K but they are not. **


	8. Finals and invasion

**Chapter 8: Finals and invasion.**

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When everyone began to leave for a well earned rest, Anko walked up to Naruto and took him to the Hokage for a meeting concerning a certain rouge Sannin. When both of them entered Naruto could see Kakashi, Asuma, Gai, Kurenai and Ibiki in the room, they were quickly ushered to their seats so that the meeting could begin.

"Good you're here. Now Naruto, I need you to give a report about your encounter with Orochimaru. Anko informed me about her run-in with him and the state he was in after, as he told Anko, his battle with that cursed blonde demon brat. Please tell me what happened."

"After we entered the forest we defeated a lone rain ninja that went ahead to scout out for potential victims. He didn't have a scroll so we went on to the tower. After a few hours we were attacked by a wind jutsu that separated me from the rest of my team. When I got my bearings I was attacked by a large snake, that I killed with one of my doton jutsu. After that I ran to join up with my team. Once I got there Sasuke and Sakura were engaged in a fight with a 'Kusa kunoichi' who was winning. I interfered when Sasuke was about to hand over our scroll. Since Sasuke managed to inflict some damage so part of his face was exposed. We fought for a short while, though he was underestimating my abilities. That gave me an opening I needed to hit him hard and evacuate the team as far as possible before he realized what happened. When he wanted to summon a snake I 'Jumped' behind him and kicked him in the back with full force. Afterwards when he lunged at me I threw some shuriken and used the "**Shuriken Kage bunshin no jutsu"** and **"Shuriken Daibakuha"** to create a large explosion that threw him away, afterwards I used the **"Katon: Karyu Endan"** to pin him down while I knocked Sasuke and Sakura out and escaped the area. When they woke up I had to explain that to save time, which they would probably waste by asking questions, I had to disable them and get them to safety. We took turns in keeping watch, got attacked by the Oto team, who work for Orochimaru, took their scroll and got to the tower. "

"That is most disturbing. From what we learned, he is after Sasuke and his Sharingan. It's good that you saved your team and retreated as quickly as it was possible, though there may be problems since Orochimaru witnessed your ability. Hopefully he will think that it was just a jutsu and nothing more."

"He does. He asked me himself about the 'Jutsu' I used to attack him from behind."

"That's good, if he is willing to attack and mark Sasuke with a curse seal to get his hands on the Sharingan than he would most likely do the same with you." Sarutobi said, "We need to take percussions in case he tries it again. I'm going to have you Kakashi keep him safe in the month between the second and third part of the exams. Since Jiraiya just returned with a report, he will help Naruro when he won't be searching the village for threats."

"You should also have someone keep an eye on the Suna and Oto teams. There's something strangely familiar about that Gaara. There is no way a jutsu that uses sand as an element would work completely without the user ordering it to defend him. Than there is that bloodlust and immense killer intent, that even some Jounin cant generate with such ease, feels unnatural. The only thing close to that, that I have encountered was that one time when I accessed the Kyuubi's chakra for a short while two years ago during training."

"If what you're saying is true than I fear that this boy Gaara may be like you Naruto. I know that one such person lives in Kumo, Suna is rumored to have dealt with the one tail, if we put one and one together than Gaara may be a container for the one tail. The only question is; why are they and Orochimaru here at the same time. We have been getting more missions from Kaze no kuni, but are they that desperate to curse a child with such a burden and go to war with us? I fear that if they are working together, than they may be planning an attack on us, the Chunnin exams are a good opportunity to strike. Our forces are spread thin because of security issues with all the foreign ninja and delegates along with our normal activities."

"What are your orders Hokage-sama?" Gai asked.

"You all have Gennin participating in the finals so you have to help them during this one month. If Orochimaru decides to attack than he will go for me personally while others engage our ninja as well as try to inflict as much damage as they can to weaken us."

"Most of their forces will no doubt be located outside the village walls, some may enter or even have entered the village disguised as civilians. They will most likely be Gennin and rookie Chuunin who will have an easier time blending in because of lower chakra levels. They will target the village's vital areas or be in the Arena where many civilians, nobles and ninja will be; watching the fights." Asuma said.

"True, by starting a fight in the Battle arena or hitting some critical points, they will draw our forces away from the walls where the majority of their forces will be. The gates will be closed but snake summons can break threw them without much problems. We will need something to take them our before they get in or some secondary defense line in case they get in." Kakashi stated.

"Jiraiya will be responsible for the main gate. He will be able to intercept the attacking snakes and allow our forces to repel the offensive. The Jounin-sensei and a contingent of Chuunin and Jounin along with a squad of ANBU will be in charge of protecting the arena while the rest of the forces will engage the attackers and ensure the safety of the civilians." Sarutobi said.

"Not that it's a bad plan or anything, but what about the Kazekage. He will be sitting next to you and since both he and Orochimaru will most likely be after you. Than again, if what you and Anko told me about him is that accurate, than he will most likely be somewhere near, disguised as the Kazekage's bodyguard or something like that." Naruto spoke up.

"Naruto does have a point. What happens when both of them decide to strike some time during the final fights. We need some trick to stop them from doing that or separate them somehow. Than there's the matter of the invasion force outside. What do we do to find out their location, strength and possibly try to weaken them before the actual fight in order to gain an advantage before the fight breaks out. The snake summons won't be called to fight at the gates by Orochimaru so that means that they will need some form of seal array to call them. It's either that or that 'Snake' found himself another apprentice who will summon the snakes and lead his forces while 'He' engages you at the battle arena Hokage-sama." Anko joined in the planning.

"Ohh, I have a good one. How about we have one of the attendants for the Kage's give the Kazekage some sake that has a drug in it that will make fighting and using chakra very difficult or impossible for a few hours or some other way to limit their use of chakra." Naruto explained his crazy idea.

"I don't know, that could be very hard for us to achieve since Tsunade-sama would be best suited for something like making a chakra blocking drug that is tasteless and undetectable to a Kage level shinobi." Kakashi thought.

"Than how about we set up explosives in the Kage booth to blow them up if they try anything. I could just 'Jump' in grab the old man and 'Jump' out before the bomb goes off." Naruto said, "We should place bombs on the roof as well. Orochimaru will want a fight, an unfair one but a fight non the less. Once the fight starts on the roof, which is the best place for such a fight by the way, we could use that tactic to beat him. We know he is a very skilled fighter and likes to cheat and have all the advantages he can get, so he may have some way of preventing reinforcements from coming to the Hokage's aid."

"That won't be necessary Naruto, but I'll agree with you on the fact that he may try to isolate me from the rest of our forces, so it will be a good idea for me to have a way of contacting you in case I need to get out of whatever trap Orochimaru may have planned." Came Sarutobi's reply. "Everything will be explained in greater detail one week before the finals. As of right now Kakashi will be guarding and preparing Sasuke for the finals, Naruto will be training with Jiraiya and helping in gathering important information. Your variation of the **"Kage bunshin no jutsu"** the **'Shadow crow jutsu' **will be of great use in airborne patrol around the village. It's a good method of finding the location of the enemy forces, afterwards we will have some of the Aburame clan members unleash their Kikai bugs and weaken the attacking forces on the day of the finals before they begin their offensive. Half of our ANBU forces will be ready to engage the Suna and Oto ninja and either kill Orochimaru's men and try to disable Suna-nin before being forced to kill. If they were tricked by my treacherous student than this situation can lead to strengthening our position in negotiating a new alliance treaty with Suna. Weakening our ally isn't in our best interest, especially if Orochimaru manages to escape. The Aburame will take care of draining the strength from their men and ANBU and the rest of our forces will eliminate the threats."

"Especially if I use my **'Shadow crows'** as explosive projectiles that will blow up inside their forces and cause confusion among their ranks." Naruto said.

"Now that everything is clear everyone is dismissed. Good luck in the preparations."

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The month passed slowly, though the ones taking part in the final battles would say otherwise. For Shikamaru that month could be described as the most troublesome period in his life up to date. His mother Yoshino threatened him with a whole years worth of early waking up and hard work with no time to indulge in his favorite pastime, namely cloud watching, if he doesn't train seriously for the final round. The second troublesome woman, Ino, decided that she will be helping him in his training, motivating him to show some effort and giving daily reports on his activities to his mother. This of course led to another Nara clan member finding himself in that troublesome situation. Shikaku Nara was appointed by his wife to train Shikamaru for his fight with the 'sand chick Temari'. The two poor Nara's had a month from hell ahead of them.

Shino like every member of the Aburame clan was very secretive about his training and practiced the family jutsu he was taught by his father Shibi. Anything else is, like always when dealing with an Aburame, an enigma.

Lee and Gai went at their training like crazy. First they increased their weights, before beginning a series of repeated exercises that were supposed to increase Lee's speed and the strength behind his punches and kicks, while they kept spewing all that 'youth' crap all the time. All this resulted in many more of Konoha's citizens going to the hospital to get help from over exposure to the green clad duo's "Youthful flames of training hysteria" as the patients described it. Since Lee was limited to Taijutsu only, Gai stepped up Lee's training with weapons. Surprisingly Lee chose something that looked like a combination of a double-bladed pile and axe. The weapon had a 1 ft. blade that could be used to stab and cut with both edges and below that were two axe like blades only they looked like a single edged sword or katana blade that had an elliptic shape when you looked at the blades on the left and right side of the stabbing blade. Since Lee's weapon of choice had such blades on both ends it could also separate into two shorter axe like weapons, each a meter long without counting the stabbing blade. When combined they made up an over 2,5 meter weapon that was deadly in the hands of someone as fast as Lee, and since Lee was quite skilled in the use of kunai and shuriken for someone without a Doujutsu or such talent as Tenten, he was most certainly a force to be reckoned with.

Neji Hyuuga, who was Naruto's first opponent in the finals, underwent a very exhausting training regime he set up for himself. He spent the entire month practicing the Juuken techniques reserved for the Main branch, that he saw and recreated for his own use, and increasing his speed that would be necessary if he was to beat Naruto. Neji is called the Hyuuga prodigy for a reason after all, he noticed that to reach him from the balcony and draw his sword Naruto would have to be as fast if not faster than Lee during their spar two months ago. His speed combined with the jutsu he knew and his apparent sword skills made Naruto a formidable opponent, albeit a foolish one in Neji's eyes. When he was practicing the Kaiten Tenten had been his training partner, and when he was working on other aspects of his training alone, Tenten was helping Lee master the use of his exotic weapon.

Kakashi and Sasuke decided to train in a secluded location where they won't risk an attack from Orochimaru. Since Sasuke had awoken his Sharingan two weeks before the exams Kakashi focused on helping his student improve his abilities in the use of his eyes, as well as improve the young Uchiha's speed. The first person that Sasuke will be facing is Gai's pupil, who will no doubt be well rained in Kakashi's 'Eternal Rival's' Taijutsu style, and that means that Lee is much faster than what he had shown in the preliminaries. Kakashi spent days beating the young Uchiha senseless until he couldn't move anymore. That was a good preparation for what Sasuke will be facing in the finals, it also was great entertainment for Kakashi. When he wasn't beating the shit out of Sasuke, Kakashi was teaching him a few useful Katon and other elemental jutsu that will make his student stronger and increase his chances in the fights against opponents he will be facing as well as the invasion. All in all, the month was rather uneventful but there was that one time when Gaara showed up and threatened that he will have the Uchiha's blood once they fight.

Speaking of Gaara and his siblings, they weren't training all that much for two reasons; the first and most important one being the upcoming invasion. There is no sense in getting worked up too much if you won't be fighting in the finals. They concentrated mostly on their orders for the invasion. The second reason: they thought that they were strong enough to take on the weak Konoha Gennin, and there is no way that they could stand up to Gaara. After the display during the preliminaries they could feel confident in their abilities, since all the kunoichi were easily beaten in their fights and the boys showed some skill. Even if they were holding back they couldn't be holding back that much, nor could they improve so drastically in just one month.

Dosu Kinuta was pissed that Orochimaru wanted to use him as a mere tool. He decided to track down the ones that had embarrassed him in the forest of death. He tried to track down the Uchiha that he was ordered to kill in the Forest of Death, but was unable to locate him. The damn blonde that had beaten him so badly was much easier to find. Dosu was able to find Naruto a week after the preliminaries near the hot springs, where said blonde was walking around and waiting for his perverted trainer.

" How hard can it be to find one old Super pervert in the bath-house of all places." Naruto said, clearly pissed.

Just as Naruto was about to yell 'PERVERT' as loud as he could so that every female in the hot springs would hear and hopefully alert him to her discovery of Jiraiya's whereabouts, he was interrupted by shuriken flying his way.

"O.k. that's it, now I'm pissed off. Come out now or I won't be kind in a few minutes." Naruto yelled.

" Now you'll pay for humiliating me in our last fight, and since you're going to be dead than there will be less competition in the finals. After I finish you off I'll take out a few more obstacles, than Orochimaru-sama will see that I'm more powerful enough to be more than a tool that he can throw away when he feels like it."

"You really are pathetic, aren't you?" Naruto said.

"What did you say?"

"I said that you're pathetic if you really think that Orochimaru cares about you and your strength or that of your teammates. All he cares about are his own sick ambition and personal grudge against his sensei, who didn't appoint him as Yondaime Hokage because of his twisted nature. And just to make it perfectly clear; you wont beat me, to do that you would have to be a Jounin not a strong Gennin who could become a low Chuunin. You lack the required skills and jutsu to do it. The only weapon you have is that device on tour right arm and some low level jutsu." Naruto said with a tone meant to infuriate the Oto gennin.

"You're too arrogant, that will be your downfall. You overestimate your abilities, just because you won our last fight doesn't mean you will win this time. Prepare to die!"

With that Dosu began his attack by throwing some shuriken to make Naruto dodge to the side so that he could get in close and use his melody arm to disable his opponent. Naruto, however used two kunai to deflect the shuriken and threw the kunai at Dosu, who jumped away. After gaining a few seconds Naruto made the hand seals for the **"Kanashibiri no jutsu"** and paralyzed his attacker once he landed on the ground. Once the Oto gennin was frozen in place Naruto got behind him and knocked him out. Just as the blonde had finished tying the gennin up Jiraiya decided to show up.

"Hey brat, what're doing with that guy, don't tell me you gave up on women, that would have been a disaster. Who would I use in one of the books I'm going to write in the future. You're going to be a babe magnet in a few years, think about the inspiration I'd lose if you won't get down with some ladies." Jiraiya joked.

"Dammit ero-sennin, where the hell have you been. I've waited almost as much as I would have if it was Kakashi of all people. Than this idiot decided to kill me and a few more of the finalists to improve his chances at getting Chuunin and show your snaky teammate that he's more than just some tool and all that bullshit." Naruto ranted.

"Calm down brat, will ya. With the way you're talking one would think that the old man banned Ramen from Konoha. Since he attacked you during the one month intermission, he gets disqualified from the tournament. That means we can interrogate him for even the smallest amount of information about Otogakure and Orochimaru's forces. Do you know that waterfall outside the village?"

"Yeah, that's where I trained with 'Azuma' and Haku before the exams, though I've still got plenty to learn about that "Silent homicide". Why do you ask?"

"Good since you've been there before you can get us there in no time. Hopefully the place will be abandoned today, if not than let's hope that there will be some hot babes swimming in the pond there."

"You just don't want to walk all the miles there you lazy perv. O.k. grab him and hang on tight." Naruto said clearly annoyed.

The trip to the waterfall was a short one and unfortunately for the mega perv there were no girls in bikinis swimming in the pond. Seriously upset Jiraiya woke Dosu up and began the questioning. While the Toad sannin may not be Morino Ibiki he too knows how to mess with a persons head until they give all the information they know like good little children. Most of the information they gained was already in their possession and that what they didn't know was provided by a very willing Dosu Kinuta. What they learned confirmed their suspicions about the invasion. According to Dosu Orochimaru wants Sasuke for an immortality jutsu he developed and the invasion will begin some time during the Uchiha's fight or the Kazekage's son's namely Gaara's fight. Dosu overheard rumors that that sand kid is a demon or something like that and that he was instrumental to the success of the invasion. He also told Jiraiya and Naruto that the only reason they passed the forest of death after their fight was because one of the snakes agents in konoha gave them the scrolls. The description sounded awfully like Kabuto. What surprised them even more was the fact that Dosu suspected that Orochimaru may sacrifice both him and his teammates to use some jutsu, that is supposed to give him a tactical advantage over the Hokage, along with the information that the Kazekage may be dead or will die during the finals, since Orochimaru doesn't like to share. Clearly the Snake-sannin greatly underestimated the data gathering abilities of his subordinate. Once they finished with Dosu Jiraiya summoned a toad that acted as a prison while Jiraiya and Naruto informed Sarutobi about their findings. When the Sandaime heard the latest news he ordered that the two Oto gennin be hidden away with Dosu in one of the Perverts safe houses in the village and the capture of Kabuto and his teammates.

With the information hunting out of the way Jiraiya proceeded to teach Naruto the Rasengan and toad summoning. While the blonde was busy with those two jutsu and his kenjutsu training with 'Azuma' Jiraiya worked on a seal that would suppress demonic youkai in Gaara to subdue him as quickly as they could before he inflicts damage to the village. There's no need to take risks when they can be avoided. Some time during the last week before the finals Anko decided to drop in and spice up Naruto's training a bit. She had just finished a new paralyzing poison that lasts approximately 24 hours before losing it's properties and just couldn't wait to show it off to her favorite blonde moving target. Naruto was not pleased but Jiraiya got a nose bleed when he saw Anko wearing fishnets. Since She ruined Naruto's day of training she gave him some of that poison but he still had to buy her Dango. Naruto spent lots of time improving his speed and sword skills along with the jutsu Jiraiya showed him. When they brought the information from Dosu the Sandaime gave Naruto the scrolls, books and sword his father left him before he died during the sealing. Needles to say when the young blonde received them he was acting as if he just got a yearly supply of ramen for free, and eagerly went at his training with his new sword. Both he and Jiraiya had went threw the books on sealing and though he didn't understand much of the advanced stuff, Naruto found the basic parts to be quite easy to understand.

By the time there were two days left until the finals Naruto had been a force to be reckoned with when it came to swordsmanship. The basic training he had practically mastered before graduation and than over half a year of learning and perfecting higher forms with a former Mist-nin and his acquaintances among the Jounin of Konoha made him one hell of a fighter with his new blade. Though it was unheard of to teach a Gennin the aspects of element manipulation, Naruto had finished both the basic and advanced exercises on Suiton nature manipulation with 'Azuma'. Luck would have it that the ex-mist Jounin didn't give a damn about stupid regulations when it came to talented Suiton users. For 'Azuma' things were rather simple; if the brat can make hundreds of shadow clones and had both the skills, chakra levels and affinity, than why the hell should all that go to waste. If you learn something sooner the greater advantage you have over a potential enemy who may underestimate you just because of young age. The Wind nature chakra manipulation was easy to learn once you actually got the required information on how to perform the exercises from a certain wind using Sarutobi. Naruto knew that one day that photo he had taken of Kurenai and Asuma kissing in an area hidden from prying eyes, though quite close to one of the blonde's favorite training spots, would come in handy. Thank god Anko introduced him to the fine art of blackmail. With all the things he needed and lots of clones the elemental affinity training took two weeks to get sufficiently down. Now Naruto's sword would be much more dangerous to an opponents health, especially when the sword was made of chakra absorbing and conducting materials. Adding a wind nature chakra blade enforcement made the thing a one hit kill weapon if used properly, and Naruto knew all too well how to use it.

The last day before the third round of the Chuunin exams Naruto sent out two hundred of his **"Shadow crows"** to scout the forests outside the village walls. He located the invasion force a few miles outside the village. In the clearing he could see that preparations for some kind of seal array were nearly done. Naruto guessed that it may be used to summon the snakes and rest of the invasion force, since the numbers close to the village were nowhere near to being sufficient enough for an assault on a major ninja village. When he reported his findings, the Sandaime sent out a task force composed of Aburame and ANBU to silently take out the enemy contingent. As they suspected there were mostly Oto-nin with only a few squads of Suna Chuunin and Jounin in the area. The seal array Naruto described must have been intended to summon the rest of the invasion army and not just the snake summons. The Konoha strike force was ordered to attack at dawn on the day of the finals to avoid detection from Orochimaru. A chance to take him down when he least expects it may not come so soon in the future.

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Finally the day everyone had been waiting for had come. Many had come to witness the fights, from ordinary civilians and merchants that were curious about the abilities of the next generation of ninja they may be hiring in the neat future, to the many Daimio and their advisors. Many had placed bets on who would win the respective fights and most had placed their bets on the Hyuuga and Uchiha geniuses as well as the Kazekage's son Gaara. Naruto used some of his Jounin friends to place bets on his and Lee's victory in their respective fights. Most of the Jounin who know Naruto placed their bets on him, most notably Anko, Asuma, Ibiki even Genma, Hayate and what surprised everyone: Gai. At first he said that such behavior was 'very unyouthful' but after being coaxed by Anko and Naruto that it would mean his firm belief in both Lee's and Naruto's abilities and 'flames of youth' he joined in the bets.

Naruto stood in the middle of the arena with the rest of the chunin hopefuls, all except for Sasuke, who was no where to be seen. Up in the Kages box sat the Hokage and Kazekage who were discussing the upcoming fights and trying to predict their outcome. The elderly Hokage stood up and began his speech.

"Welcome everyone to this years Chuunin selection exam finals." His voice boomed. "Standing before you are the best of this years candidates that have entered this exam a month ago. Today, they will fight here before you all to prove their worthiness for the rank of Chuunin. I sincerely hope that all of you, who have gathered here to witness the fights, will find the performance of this years finalists satisfactory."

A roar of approval and cheers erupted from the crowd as the much awaited finals began. When the roars of the crowd died down Genma the proctor for the final matches spoke up.

"First of all I must announce that there will be a slight change in the fights due to the disqualification of Dosu Kinuta for assaulting another contestant during the one month intermission. As of right now the fights will be look like this." Genma spoke as he pulled out a scroll from his vest. "The first fight will be between Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji."

"Second fight: Aburame Shino against Sabaku no Kankuro."

"Third fight : Nara Shikamaru against Sabaku no Temari."

"Fourth fight" Rock Lee versus Uchiha Sasuke."

The winner of the fourth fight will face Sabaku no Gaara in the second round of the fights. Now will everyone who is not fighting right now please wait their turn in the viewing lounge over there."

When the only ones remaining in the arena were Naruto and Neji, Genma spoke up again.

"Alright, the rules are the same as in the preliminaries. There are no rules and the match will continue until one of you gives up or dies. However, if I decide that one of you is done I will call the match. Failure to abide by this rule will result in your dismissal. Am I clear?" Both Naruto and Neji gave him a nod. "Good. Now begin!"

Naruto and Neji jumped back and took up battle positions. Both fighters eyed each other for any weak spots and openings when Neji, confident in what he had learned during this month replayed the information he had about Naruto in his head. Naruto used a wide range of both elemental and non-elemental Ninjutsu as well as kenjutsu. He was clearly a close range fighter. Activating his Byakugan, Neji saw calm and confidence in himself.

"Naruto," said Neji in a calm tone. "I suggest that you give up now. Fate has already decided that I will be the winner of this match. Your efforts will gain you nothing so I suggest that you forfeit now and save yourself the embarrassment."

Naruto stood there for a moment before he began to laugh.

"You think that I'll just give up like that and leave you unpunished for your actions. Don't make me laugh. You really are as limited and misguided as I suspected." Naruto let Neji have a taste of his own medicine. "You have to be one of the greatest fools I have met. You are an arrogant bastard who looks down on others like they're trash. What has Hinata ever done to you that you would go so far as to kill her? She is one of the kindest people I have met and there is no way she would have harmed anyone intentionally or not."

"You have no right to judge me dead-last. What do you know about my life. Every member of the branch house is effectively a slave to the main branch. It doesn't matter that I have talent, I will always be just a slave while a weakling like Hinata is a member of the main branch simply because of the fact that her father was born mere minutes before mine." At this point Neji tool off his headband revealing the cured seal on his forehead. "All members of the branch house have to serve the main house and even die for them just to preserve the secrets of the Hyuuga bloodline. It is our destiny and there is nothing we can do to change it."

"That is where you are wrong Neji. I know all too well how it is to live a life marked from birth with something I had no control over. Maybe some day I'll tell you what it is but right now you don't deserve it. For someone who believes in fate and destiny so firmly you sure put a lot of effort into fighting it. Didn't you say it's your fate to protect the main house with your life…" Naruto said trying to get under the Hyuuga's skin "…and yet you did your best to take away Hinata's life. Looks to me like you're one hell of a hypocrite Neji."

That got the desired effect. Neji became angry and activated his Byakugan. Naruto made a dozen **'Kage bunshin'** and had them engage the Hyuuga prodigy while he stayed back and observed the fight. Even though Neji had the superior taijutsu style he had much trouble in beating Naruto's clones. They were fast and very skilled in hand to hand combat so it took lots of effort from Neji to take them all down. It was like fighting Lee during their spars only Lee usually blocked while the clones were very good at avoiding hits. Fighting one opponent with such skills is an annoyance for the Hyuuga prodigy but fighting multiple opponents with these skills is a risk that can not be taken. Neji had heard the rumors about Naruto: that he could use and make hundreds of shadow clones, and it looked to him like these rumors were true. Unless he thinks of something quick Neji is certain that he will lose if only because he will be too exhausted to continue.

Having disposed of the last clone Neji made a run for Naruto, hoping that once he gets close enough to the blonde he will be able to stop him from creating any more of those damn clones and cut off his opponents chakra system. But by this point Naruto had analyzed Neji's attack patterns and was sure that as long as he managed to avoid the Hyuuga's strikes he could win this fight. There was also the tiny problem of the proctors, who were taking notes on the performance of the combatants to determine whether the candidate deserved a promotion or not. And if there was one thing Naruto wanted more than anything, a promotion to Chuunin was it. Not only will he have to do less of those blasted D-rank missions, but he will also get a pay increase and more C-rank missions along with the complementary green vest.

Naruto got close to Neji and deflected or avoided the young Hyuuga's palm strikes. He got lots of valuable information about the danger those strikes presented. Jiraiya told him about the Hyuuga clan's ability to shut down their opponents chakra system and Naruto definitely didn't want to be left helpless in a fight. Speeding up his movements even more then before Naruto started hitting Neji in his upper body around his arms and rib cage before he hit Neji square in his chest with a strong open palm thrust. That attack had knocked the wind out of the Hyuuga prodigy and sent him staggering back several feet.

"This can't be all you have Neji." Naruto kept up the mind games that Neji so eagerly used during his fight with Hinata. "I came here expecting a good fight but I can't even call this a warm up. Please try harder than that or I will have to cut our little chit chat short."

That riled up the young Hyuuga even more. Neji lost a great deal of his calm and collected mask to the blonde's taunts and sharp remarks. Neji charged at Naruto with his palms clearly charged with chakra and ready to inflict massive internal damage. Naruto made the necessary hand seals and called out his jutsu **"Fuuton: Daidoppa"** and sent the pride of the Hyuuga clan flying. Neji twisted his body so that he landed on his feet and skidded back several feet. By this time, Naruto had drawn his sword indicating that he means business.

Up in the stands an eight year old girl with pale eyes spoke up.

"Father, do you think that Neji can win?" Hanabi asked.

"Yes, but it will be difficult," said Hiashi. "I didn't know that Uzumaki knew that jutsu. With that wind he can blow Neji away so he can't get in close for a Juken strike. But, Neji will figure a way to counter this. His eyes are the most powerful among our clan in a few generations. They are even more powerful than yours or Hinata's."

Naruto proceeded to attack Neji with the **"Katon: Hosenka no jutsu"** to distract him while Naruto used his unique Bloodline ability to gain a short burst of speed, by channeling the Hiraishin chakra threw his body, to appear right in front of Neji. The spectators as well as Neji were stunned by that display due to the after images that were left behind Naruto. Making use of the Hyuuga's momentary lack of focus Naruto was able to inflict some shallow cuts on the young prodigies arms legs and torso. Once Neji was wide awake Naruto summoned some more shadow clones that kept making hit and run attacks on the Hyuuga prodigy.

"_Let's see what you can do Hyuuga Neji"_ Naruto thought as he kept his hands behind his head to allow everyone know which one is the original.

When all the clones were in range Neji made his move: **"Hakkeshou: Kaiten" **Neji said as a wall of chakra formed around him before beginning to spin and destroying all the clones.

"Father is that...?" said Hanabi in the stands speechless just like her father was since what Neji had done was only supposed to be done by the Main Branch of the Hyuuga Clan.

"Yes. It seems the Branch Family has been doing more learning of the Gentle Fist style then I thought," said Hiashi calmly knowing that Naruto could win this fight, but was just as surprised that Neji learned how to do the Kaiten.

The Chuunin proctors made note of all of the fight's developments.

"Not bad. That Naruto kid just sent his clones at Neji and force the Hyuuga prodigy to use his trump card," said one of the two Chuunin proctors clearly impressed with the boy's strength.

"Yeah it would seem so. Not only that, but had Neji not used it the beating from the boy's clones would have greatly injured or possibly defeated the Hyuuga," said the second Chuunin proctor nodding his head in agreement.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking Izumo?" asked the first Chuunin.

"Yeah, sure do Kotetsu. That Uzumaki Naruto is a potential candidate for the rank of Chuunin," said the second Chuunin before they both smiled knowing that the ninja keep on advancing at a younger age every year.

Down in the arena Naruto looked impressed and even gave out a whistle at Neji's display. Once the Hyuuga stopped spinning Naruto charged him and continued pressing his onslaught of dance like steps and sword strikes. During the fight the blonde used his sword to guide Neji right where he wanted him and blocked some of the Hyuuga's Juken strikes with the flat side of his sword. Naruto didn't bother using his swords ability to extend or the wind chakra blades that he could fire at his enemy with each swing of his weapon. When they arrived at the desired place Naruto left a subtle opening in his defenses that Neji could use and not suspect any foul play. When Neji saw the opening he smirked in realization that he saw threw that fake gap in the blondes defense, but when he saw that it was just big enough for him to get past he understood that it was no trick but a gap that separated a Master of the blade from a student, or at least that's what he thought. Quickly Neji performed a strike at the chakra point near the right shoulder. When the hit connected Naruto dropped his sword.

"Now it's over… you are within the field of my divination…**"Hakke: Rokujuuyonshou"** he shouted as he performed his most powerful offensive attack.

"2 strikes, 4 strikes, 8 strikes, 16 strikes, 32 strikes, 64 strikes!" Neji yelled.

"_Damn! Did Naruto let that happen on purpose or did he get too overconfident_?' thought Genma hoping it wasn't the later or else it could go bad with the Judges.

"It's over proctor. I hit his chakra points. He's not going to get up." As Neji said those words Naruto turned into mud. Everyone looked in disbelief at the spot Naruto was a minute ago when several fox jaws erupted from the ground and clamped on Neji's legs, arms and one big earth fox jumped on the Hyuuga's shoulders in a similar way to Kakashi's **"Doton: Tsuiga no jutsu-Tracking fang Technique"**

"What the…" Was all Neji could say before Naruto burst from the ground.

"How do you like my new trick Neji? Works great, hugh?" Naruto said "I call it my "**Fox bind technique"**, hope you approve?"

"How did you get down there?" Neji asked "I didn't see you change places."

"That's quite simple really. When I created the first of my clones there was lots of smoke that I used to cover the Mud clone I made within that smoke. I had the clone burrow into the ground and tunnel into a specific location." Naruto explained "Than when we were fighting and I forced you to use the **Kaiten**, you were temporarily blinded by the chakra saturated smoke left by the destroyed **Kage bunshin**. At that time everyone's attention was focused on you and your technique, I switched places with the mud clone that continued the fight and lured you into position. Once you used the opening I gave you it was all over." Said Naruto as he brought the tip of his sword to Neji's artery. "Surrender or die, what will it be Neji?"

Seeing no way to escape from the jaws of the earth foxes and Naruto's sword Neji spoke up.

" Proctor, I forfeit."

Hearing that Genma spoke up: "Winner, UZUMAKI NARUTO!" And the entire stadium roared in cheers.

"You know what the irony of your situation is Neji?" Naruto asked, but seeing Neji's confused expression he continued; "You tried to kill the one person who actually cares about you and couldn't stand to look at your suffering. I knew about the division in your clan from her when we talked in the academy. All Hinata ever wanted was to be seen as something else than a clan failure, to receive some encouragement for her efforts and to unite your clan, and you nearly killed her."

With that said Naruto left the arena and went to the waiting area, leaving Neji to ponder.

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Up in the stands there were all kinds of reactions to the fight. The many Daimyo's, who placed their bets on Neji were shocked to the core by the fact that a clan less orphan defeated the genius of the Hyuuga clan. The Jounin, Hokage and Jiraiya who placed their bets on Naruto had Ryo marks in their eyes: due to the fact that so many placed their bets otherwise the winnings from Naruto's victory will be colossal.

"Did you guys see that!" Kiba opened his big mouth "Naruto just made Neji look like an Idiot with those tricks of his."

"Yeah, who knew Naruto was that good." Ino said.

"I'm glad he went easy on me. Otherwise all that would be left of me would look like Korean Barbecue." Chouji said.

"_Who would have thought that that guy could beat Neji. You're something else Uzumaki Naruto."_ Thought Tenten.

"YOSH!! THE FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHTLY IN THIS ONE" Yelled Gai.

"Ough, could you keep it down Gai? We're sitting next to you, you know!" Asuma said while holding his ears.

Up in the Kage box the Kazekage turned to the elderly Hokage.

"You have a very promising young shinobi there Hokage-dono."

"Thank you Kazekage-dono. Naruto-kun is a rather tricky but very determined young ninja. I have no doubt that he will go far."

In the waiting area for the competitors everyone was also analyzing the situation.

"That troublesome Naruto, now everyone will expect a similar performance from the rest of us." Shikamaru muttered under his nose.

"It would seem that Naruto-san had been in control of the fight the whole time. He managed to show a lot of his skills in that fight and still kept some of his abilities a secret to have the element of surprise in his next fight. Very intriguing." Shino commented.

"Don't forget that you're up next Shino and if you win than Naruto will be your opponent in the second phase of the fights." Shikamaru said.

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Down in the arena Genma announced the second fight.

"The second fight is about begin. Will Aburame Shino and Sabaku no Kankuro come down."

Up in the waiting area Kankuro was thinking over his options.

"_Damn if I fight this bug freak right now he will drain my chakra and I won't have any left for the invasion. Gaara looks like he's nearly ready to begin his killing spree. There's no choice I have to throw the fight."_

"Hey proctor I give up." Kankuro yelled.

Genma was surprised but he called the fight. "Winner Aburame Shino."

"All right onto the Third Round of the Chuunin Exams. Nara Shikamaru and Subaku no Temari get down here for your match," said Genma ignoring Shikamaru's face paling, as Temari smirked at him.

Temari seeing that the crowd wasn't happy with the stunt Kankuro pulled glided down into the arena on top of her fan. Shikamaru thought it would be a good idea to throw in the towel early but than he remembered what his mother would do to him if he did. Deciding to have this troublesome thing over with he went down to face another troublesome blonde- a woman at that: that's troublesome times three because A: she's a woman, B: she's blonde and finally C: she wants to fight.

Unfortunately for the lazy Nara he opened his big mouth and seriously pissed off the proud Suna kunoichi who started swinging her battle fan sending powerful gusts of wind towards his persona. The only thing left for him to do was to avoid getting hit by using the terrain for cover and think up a plan of action that could get him out of this mess.

"Damn she's spunky, I hate spunky. She has me pinned down good, and it looks like she's quite good when it comes to forming strategies. Looks like I've my work cut out for me."

When he found an opening Shikamaru used his **"Kagemane no jutsu"** in an attempt to capture Temari but the sand maiden was agile enough to jump back and avoid the shadow creeping her way. Once Shikamaru was certain of her reactions he proceeded to use his shadow and steer Temari in the desired area.

"_If you don't want to come to the shadow the shadow will come to you." _Thought Shikamaru. "_You may have more fire power and a decent strategy on your side but in some cases it's not always healthy, especially when you're facing someone who is the opposite in stature."_

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As the fight took place in the arena, up in the stands a discussion took place about the outcome of the fight.

"Do you think Shikamaru stands any chance in this fight?" Asked Kurenai.

"Don't worry about him Kurenai. He may be a slacker but when the situation calls for it you can count on him." Asuma spoke.

"He may not look like it but the kid's a real genius. Since he never bothered with the tests in the academy I had to disguise an I.Q test in the form of puzzles and games we played aside from Shougi."

"And what did the tests show?" Kurenai asked clearly interested.

"That he has an I.Q of over 200."

"200, you cant be serious."

"I'm afraid that I am Kurenai. Don't worry he probably has a plan that is twenty steps ahead of his opponent by now."

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Down in the arena Shikamaru had Temari on the run from his shadow and though she found the limits to the length it could extend the Nara genius managed to lead her into his trap. When Temari landed from another effort to escape the shadow and used her fan as a shield she looked at the shadow that stopped 4 feet away from her. Than suddenly she felt her body stiffen and than begin to move against her will.

"Kagemane success. Looks like I win."

"But how, the shadow never got near me. I made sure to stay out of range." Temari said.

"Than look behind you." Shikamaru said as he turned her around.

She felt her body turn and than she saw the shadow emerging from a hole in the ground.

"I used the tunnel Naruto made during his fight with Neji to allow my shadow to extend a bit longer than normally and attack you from behind."

"Looks like you win than." Temari said.

"Not really. I don't have much chakra left. In fact I only have enough for a few more seconds." With that said Shikamaru's shadow receded back. "Proctor I give up."

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"WHAT!!" Yelled Ino "How can that lazy bum give up when he had the victory in the bag?" She asked completely confused.

"What did you expect. He did what he had to do but advancing further is too much of a hassle." Chouji said.

Many of the spectators were outraged at the performance and started throwing things into the arena.

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"Winner of the third match Sabaku no Temari." Genma called out.

Why did you give up? I know perfectly well you could have knocked me out with my own fan to get the win," said Temari, as the two went up the stairs.

"I was telling the truth and it did cross my mind, but if I did I would have to face the ever troublesome wrath of your brother Gaara in ." said the lazy Nara.

"All right I believe you...for now," said Temari like an afterthought making Shikamaru wonder if it was wise to lose like he did.

Indeed Nara's were too smart and lazy for there own good.

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"Will Rock Lee and Uchiha Sasuke please enter the ring for the next match," Genma called out.

"Looks like you are up Lee. Now you get to show the teme what it means to be a 'genius' of hard work," said Naruto sitting on the railing with his arms folded.

"YOSH! Time for Kohona's Green Beast to show his 'Flames of Youth' ," said Lee before leaping over the railing and onto the ground with a loud "THUD".

"_It's bad enough we have one Maito Gai to deal with, but I don't think we can handle his mini-me of a clone when the kid gets older and wears the vest to go with the Green Spandex."_ Thought Genma.

"YOSH! Bring on Uchiha Sasuke so I may show him that hard work always beats a genius. ," said Lee enthusiastically waiting for Sasuke to show up. But the Uchiha was no where to be seen.

"Sasuke Uchiha come to the arena now or you will forfeit the match with Rock Lee," said Genma looking around for Sasuke and Kakashi finding that being late was a serious point against them.

"Lord Hokage, surely you can let this match be postponed for a later time? After all it's the last survivor of the Uchiha Clan from what I understand, and many have come for the sole purpose of seeing him fight." said the Kazekage as he looked at the Hokage not knowing that the Hokage suspected who was underneath the disguise.

"I'm sorry Kazekage-dono but we can't have one of our ninja be late. What would happen if a ninja is late during a mission? It could result in his or her comrade's life being forfeit at the hands of an enemy. We will not postpone the match just for your amusement and will continue should he not show up in the next 2 minutes," said the Hokage knowing that the Kazekage would be seriously displeased.

After 2 minutes had passed Genma shook his head and mentally shamed Kakashi for being so late to the Exam. "As a result of Sasuke Uchiha not being here..." said Genma raising his hand to declare Rock Lee the winner even though the kid looked disappointed at not being able to fight the Uchiha.

"Sabaku no Gaara please come down into the arena. The next fight will be between Rock Lee and Sabaku no Gaara."

The Suna-nin used his **"Suna Shunshin"** to appear in the center of the field.

"BEGIN" Yelled Genma and stepped back.

As soon as the proctor called the fight Lee rushed his opponent and threw a vicious kick to the head but was pushed back by Gaara's sand shield. Lee tried a few more times to pierce the sand but his efforts gained him nothing. It didn't matter if Lee used kunai, his special staff weapon or explosive tags; the sand absorbed all the attacks, though the explosive notes were the most effective. Seeing no alternative Lee took off his weights. When he resumed his attack everyone's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at how fast the green clad gennin became. From the looks of it the move paid off since Lee was able to land a powerful punch to Gaara's head.

"_I'll have to thank Naruto-kun after the fight. The advice he gave me for a fight with Gaara has proved most useful."_

"_Flashback"_

"Hey Lee you've got a minute?" Naruto asked as he walked up to the green Gennin during Shikamaru's fight.

"Why yes Naruto-kun, Do you need something?"

"Since they changed the order of the fights you'll be facing Gaara first so I thought I'd give you some heads up beforehand."

"That's very considerate of you Naruto-kun, thank you."

"What ever you do Lee be very careful when fighting that guy. Remember what he did to that guy during the preliminaries? I've seen him do the same to a team from Ame in the forest of death, so did Shino. What ever you do don't get caught by the sand. Luckily for you you're really fast so you have that advantage. His sand won't be able to raze the defense in time if you attack with enough speed and most likely won't be able to return in time if you separate them."

"Thank you for your advice Naruto-kun, I'll keep that in mind."

"_Flashback End"_

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"No way, he hit Gaara." Kankuro said.

"He got past his sand shield, that's impossible." Temari said dumbfounded.

"It's very much possible, if you're as fast as Lee that is. Now Lee will soften him up some and when your little invasion begins Gaara will be easy pickings." Naruto said.

"What did you say?" Asked a shocked Temari who grabbed hold of her fan.

"You heard me. We know all about your little team up with Orochimaru to raid Konoha, and the fact that your brother is the host of Shukaku." Naruto smirked as he watched the expressions on their faces change from shock to panic. "Our forces probably secured the gathering point outside the village by now, not to mention all the ANBU, Jounin and Chuunin hidden in the stadium. The only thing that still puzzles me is whether or not that is the Kazekage and Orochimaru disguised himself as one of the bodyguards or did the treacherous snake kill that idiot Kage and took his place."

"How the hell do you know all this, and what do you mean the Kazekage being an possibly an imposter." Temari asked all the while shaking because they were discovered.

"I know because I've sent my clones after we first met. The reason I did it was that I may have been nominated myself so I decided to scout the competition, well that and the fact that Gaara made me feel uneasy. My clones simply overheard you talking about something big, so I simply had clones trail you the entire time you spent in the village. Once Orochimaru showed up in the 'Forest of death' and I discovered some of Gaara's abilities my mind began to piece things together. We weren't certain if there would be an invasion or just an assassination attempt on the Hokage but we decided to keep our eyes and ears open. Since I discovered the location of your forces rally point we had our ninja keep guard and attack today at dawn. As for the Kazekage, well lets just say that Orochimaru likes to screw people over. It wouldn't be that big of a surprise if he decided to kill the Kazekage before or right after your arrack on Konoha."

"What happens now?" Asked Kankuro as he reached for his puppet.

"Don't bother trying to use your weapons." Naruto told them, "Remember how I bumped into you on my way here?" He asked, "That's when I gave you a special poison that will limit your chakra use and make you pass out within the next half hour's time. I would advise you to lay down your weapons and surrender. The Sandaime will try to negotiate a new treaty with Suna after this mess is over in order to avoid such things in the future."

Temari and Kankuro did what they were told. With what they have seen Naruto do during his fight, an Aburame who could drain their chakra in moments and a Nara who had regained some of his chakra they were outmatched.

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Meanwhile down in the arena Lee was running circles around Gaara and periodically threw a punch or kick that went past the sand shield. When he softened his opponent sufficiently enough Lee proceeded to send the sand user into the air with a **"Kage buyo"** and than used the "**Omoto renge" **to crash Gaara into the ground. This didn't have the desired effect and a large wave of sand was launched at Lee, who dodged it skillfully. Seeing no other way Lee opened the first Gate in his chakra pathways to gain greater strength and speed with which he pummeled Gaara into the ground. Gaara got back up but felt something wet on his head. When he ran his hand thru his hair and looked at it he could see blood; his blood. Than all of a sudden he grabbed his head and screamed in pain. Unfortunately for everyone that's when Gaara began undergoing his partial transformation into Shukaku.

When everyone looked on with interest at the site before them white feathers began falling from the sky making all the civilians fall asleep and a smoke bomb went off in the Kage box.

Kabuto watched as everyone began to succumb to his technique and smirked behind his stolen ANBU mask at the Kage box where his master was implementing the final phase of his plan.

"I have waited for this moment Sarutobi-sensei. Though I would prefer for this to be just a fight between the two of us without anyone interrupting our little reunion." said Orochimaru, as his Sound Four had created the prison to contain them that was the "Four Flames Formation Jutsu".

"I have to admit that it has been indeed a long time since we last saw each other face to face my OLD student and there is no denying I have become what you considered old as well. Still...that does not mean I am not strong enough to best you in combat like I did when you were younger!" said Sarutobi removing his Kage robes revealing he was ready for combat.

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Up in the stands the Jounin sensei of the rookie 9 saw all the civilians fall asleep.

"Genjutsu?, so they made their move."

"It looks like Kurenai. Prepare yourselves, they're going to start coming out any time now." Asuma said.

"Yo, what did I miss?" Said Kakashi as he appeared in the stadium.

"Kakashi do you know how late you are, and where the hell is Sasuke?" asked Kurenai.

"Well you see, I had to make sure that he's knocked out for the entire day before I could come here."

"Why is that 'Eternal rival'?" Gai asked perplexed at his rivals actions, "Surely you would want him to participate in the finals that he worked hard to advance to."

"Not really Gai, I talked this over with the Hokage and he agreed that having Sasuke not show up here and keeping him hidden would be the best course of action given that he is Orochimaru's target along with Sandaime-sama."

"I guess that is a good idea given that Sasuke can be rather impulsive at times," Asuma said, "He could have used this situation as a means of testing himself thereby placing either himself or others in danger. Good thinking Kakashi."

"Since you're here my rival why don't we test our 'Flames of Youth' by seeing who can beat the most enemies." Gai proposed.

"Prepare to lose Gai because I seriously need to unwind after having to put up with the Uchiha pride for the entire month."

"There's that hip attitude of yours again Kakashi. I'll walk up the Hokage monument thirty times on my hands if I don't win."

"I hate to break up your conversation but our guests noticed us and I think they want to play." Asuma said.

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Naruto had seen what was happening to Gaara and the strange barrier that formed on the roof of the V.I.P section of the stands. Coming to the decision that Gaara is the larger threat at the time Naruto jumped over the railing and went to give Lee a hand while two of his clones went to observe the situation behind the barrier. Once he got there he could see Gaara grabbing his head in pain and a dumbfounded Lee standing a short distance away who was trying to make heads or tails of the situation. Naruto walked up to the Taijutsu user and slapped him in the face lightly.

"Lee snap out of it. We have to stop him before he causes any damage or hurts the spectators."

"But Naruto-kun what's happening to Gaara-san and what do you mean by stopping him." Asked a confused Lee.

"Listen there's no time for explanations now. We must stop him or many innocents will get hurt. Do you understand?" When Lee nodded his head in confirmation the blonde explained his plan. "I got these special seal tags from Jiraiya. What we have to do is slap them onto Gaara's forehead and he should return to normal, but we have to be very careful with this. One wrong move and we'll be in big trouble, got it?"

"Hai, Naruto-kun I understand." Lee replied.

"Good now lets go we cant waste time."

"YOSH!!"

With that they proceeded to assault Gaara at their top speed. The Suna Jinchuuriki wasn't able to defend himself against such speed and any attempts he made to stop the konoha gennin with his sand attacks proved to be futile. Every time he tried to snag one of the assailants the other would connect a powerful hit. What made the Suna-nin's situation even more dire was the fact that he had used a third of his chakra reserves and he kept loosing more at an increasing rate. What he didn't know was that Shino had sent some of his bugs to help Naruto out. They were the reason why Gaara's chakra levels kept decreasing so rapidly. It didn't help any that Naruto made frequent attacks with either one of the many Fire jutsu's he knew, Doton techniques that seriously strained his sand shield and made him use up his chakra even more or the Suiton techniques that made his sand heavier and forced Gaara to use even more chakra to reanimate his sand. Then there came the powerful physical attacks of the green clad Taijutsu master. Each of those made his **"Suna no yoroi"** crack and fall off. It was another large chakra drain that kept weakening Gaara. Since those punches and kicks were so strong that he could feel them threw the armor Gaara didn't want to find out what their effects on an unprotected body were.

To the side Genma was engaged in a fight with three Oto shinobi, though they clearly were not enough to make him worry about his life. They couldn't be more than barely Chuunin in strength and most definitely not strong Chuunin by Konoha standards. It took him only a few minutes to dispatch them into the afterlife. Once that problem was out of the way he went over to help Naruto and Lee but they were close to wrapping things up. When Naruto came to the decision that they had weakened Gaara sufficiently enough the blonde used a burst of speed by channeling Hiraishin chakra threw his body to appear right in front of the Suna Jinchuuriki's face and slapped one of the suppressor tags onto Gaara's forehead, cutting off the flow of Shukaku's Youkai and making him pass out while simultaneously breaking the sand demon's grip on Gaara's mind. With one crisis out of the way Naruto could rest a little before heading to the barrier and leaving Gaara in Genma's hands with Lee and one more suppressor seal in case Gaara woke up. Naruto was able to rest only a little before one of his clones dispelled itself and the information about the Sandaime's fight with Orochimaru came back to him. Wasting no time Naruto 'Jumped' to the location of his other clone near the edge of the barrier.

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Throughout Kohona battles were going on between the small contingents of Oto shinobi who infiltrated the village before the finals began and the Konoha shinobi assigned to defend strategic points in the village.

"He, he. Looks like the old INO-SHIKA-CHO strikes again, huh guys." Inoichi Yamanaka said as he made one of the enemy ninja attack his comrades with his mind jutsu.

"As far as I'm concerned they could have left us alone instead of ruining our little party in the Korean BBQ. Just think of all the food that got wasted." Said Chouza Akimichi.

"If you ask me this whole situation is far too troublesome for it's own good." Nara Shikaku spoke.

Kohona's shinobi were fighting the combined force of Sand and Sound Ninja that managed to sneak in some how; the work of the snakes spies no doubt while the rest of their forces evacuated the civilians to the safety of the shelters within the Hokage Monument. The students within Kohona's Ninja Academy were escorted by their Chuunin teachers, who took the less dangerous route even though it was the longer path taken.

Konohamaru was nervous along with the other kids because they had never understood the sounds of the fighting with the explosions and thought it was some festival involving the Exams. Such thoughts were stopped when two teams of Sound Ninja surrounded the group ready to annihilate them. "What do you want to do with these brats' sir?" said a Sound Ninja to his Jounin squad leader.

"Kill all those who don't fight back and those who do I want restrained to take back to Sound Village so Orochimaru-sama can experiment on them," said the Jounin squad leader with the added support of the second group.

"Konohamaru I'm scared we can't fight them. We're going to be killed." Moegi said while the Chuunin teachers tensed knowing the situation was not looking too good.

Just as the Sound-nin were about to advance they were cut down by a team of Konoha ANBU returning from their raid on the rally point. Throughout the entire village Konoha shinobi were isolating and killing off the small groups of the invasion army. And they were winning without sustaining many causalities.

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(Kohona Stadium-Kage Stands)

Sarutobi engaged his old student in a Taijutsu match that lasted barely three minutes before they began to use jutsu to gain an advantage over one another.

"**Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"** Sarutobi called out sending a few shuriken at Orochimaru that soon turned into many heading like the original to their intended target. The snake managed use his flexibility to avoid getting hit before sending a pair of snakes from his sleeve at his old sensei. The aged Hokage performed some hand seals and called out **"Doton: Doryuu Taiga" **creating a river of mud that made Orochimaru lose his balance, afterwards Sarutobi used **"Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu"** to turn the heat up a little for the rouge Sannin. The robes of the Kazekage that he was currently wearing caught fire and Orochimaru was forced to discard them before his clothes caught fire as well. That managed to seriously piss off the Snake-sannin who returned the favor with a **"Goukakyuu no jutsu" **toward the old Fire Shadow, however it was blocked by a **"Doton: Doryuuheki"**.

The whole situation was getting on his nerves; just his luck that he chose to fight one of the men who knew the most Jutsu on the planet. While he was making hand signs for a technique that change all the broken bits around him into snakes, the old man summoned Monkey King Enma to help him out. Seeing his snakes obliterated like they were nothing Orochimaru summoned his sword Kusanagi the Grass cutter and engaged Sarutobi in armed combat. This proved to be a stalemate since once in his staff form Enma could change size and length and still retained the ability to have his eyes open arms grab the Snake-sannin's arm and bite him while the Kusanagi could extend and still had the power to injure Enma, and let's not forget the deadly poison that coated the sword. Seeing no other way Orochimaru turned as many broken roof fragments as he could into snakes and had them attack the Sandaime to overrun the old fool. What he didn't count on was for Sarutobi to take out grenades and throw them at his snake army.

Some of them exploded, others froze the targeted area within a few feet while the last kind sprayed some sort of corrosive liquid that dissolved the snakes.

"Looks like I broke your toys my misguided pupil. I hope you have more." Sarutobi taunted.

"That's it you old fool, I'm thru playing prepare to die a painful death."

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(Kohona Stadium- Spectator Stands)

"Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen. Hope you can keep up 'Eternal Rival' because I just got warmed up." (You know who.)

"Sixteen, seventeen Eighteen. Huh, Did you say something Gai?"

"Ohh, there's that hip attitude again."

"Hate to spoil your fun but I just took out no. twenty and were running out of enemies." Asuma said.

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(With Naruto)

"Looks like I got here just in time. They seem to be really going at it like there's no tomorrow. Just look at that mess, it looks like a training field after my spar with Anko."

Naruto observed the fight from the other side of the barrier waiting for an opening to 'Jump' inside the barrier and make a surprise attack when Orochimaru least expects it. He could see that Sarutobi noticed his arrival and made preparations so that Naruto could hit the rouge sannin with a **"Rasengan"** and tip the balance of the fight. When Sarutobi blocked another strike from Orochimaru's sword and had Enma hold down his hands Naruto made his move. He instantly appeared behind the Snake-sannin and before Orochimaru could react Naruto slammed his **"Rasengan" **in his back. Enma quickly let go and Sarutobi jumped back to avoid getting hit after Naruto released his jutsu and sent Orochimaru flying. The pain he felt from the chakra sphere grinding into his back was enormous and when it was released he was sent flying into the barrier created by the Sound four.

The Snake-sannin slowly got up still feeling great pain that sneak attack was able to inflict upon him. He began to seethe when he saw that annoying blonde rat that foiled his plan of capturing the Uchiha and his Sharingan. That fox-like grin reminded him so much of the blonde bastard that took the title of Konoha's Yondaime that was rightfully his. Than he could conduct his experiments without problems and become even more powerful. Than there was that strange jutsu that held great similarities to the Hiraishin. There has to be some explanation to this. The damn demon brat looks like him and uses techniques that are similar to those used by that bastard Minato so there has to be some connection. He knew Minato didn't have any kids and the name indicates that the little rat is the son of that redhead Kushina that annoyed him so much. Even his personality resembles that of that annoying bitch. That's it he remembered some hints from years ago, about how Kushina told Minato that she was already seeing someone. Most likely Minato gave her son his techniques so he could use them and improve them since he was going to die without an heir. It's soo like him to give his creations to one of his friends, he did teach that idiot Jiraiya the Rasenga so he would definitely leave his best Jutsu to a trusted friend. Since the technique used by the blonde doesn't need the special kunai it has to be an improved version or some variation of the **"Hiraishin no jutsu"**. I can probably only be used to travel within a certain radius of the users location. That would explain many of his observations. The blonde used this jutsu only when he was near him so it has to be it. Probably some new seal Minato invented that allowed the user to perform the jutsu and travel instantly a certain distance. To use it for long range travel the kunai still have to be used but short range teleportation is only limited by chakra and some factors.

"I have to congratulate you Naruto-kun. You certainly have mastered the Jutsus Minato left you quite well. Tell me did he place another seal on you to allow you to use a short range version of the Hiraishin without the special kunai or is there some other means that allows you to use it. I seriously doubt that you created it since you don't have the required knowledge of Seals to do so, even if you are a gifted child. That's quite ingenious of him actually. Normally the kunai limit the jutsu since an enemy may try to avoid them or set an ambush but this new form of it makes it impossible to predict where you'll appear. Care to share Naruto-kun."

"Not on your miserable life Snake shit."

"Well than it looks like I'll have to rip its secrets from your dead body." Orochimaru said right before he lunged at Naruto. Before they could react Orochimaru's sword pierced the blonde's right lung. When Naruto burst into smoke the sannin's eyes went wide. To his right a roof tile transformed into Naruto.

"You didn't think I'm that stupid did you. I made a clone and turned into a roof tile while you couldn't see me. I know that you're faster than me so I took defensive measures." Naruto said as he threw a ball at the rouge sannin. The ball burst into smoke right in front of Orochimaru's face who used his hands to shield his face. What happened next was by all means bizarre. The Snake-sannin screamed in pain and as the smoke cleared revealing the sight of Orochimaru reeling in pain and his hands, arms and parts of his torso and face were covered with some kind of jelly substance.

"How do you like my present snake-teme. I hope you like jelly." Naruto said. "Let me introduce you to the 'Cuboza Jellyfish' also known as the 'Box Jellyfish'. It's one of the most lethal sea creatures in existence. Its venom is more complex and toxic than that of any snake or plant. You see normally venom or toxins have only one effect. They either destroy blood cells and vessels, Neurotoxins paralyze the bodies muscles and heart and others just dissolve body tissue but it is possible to make an anti-venom to stop them from killing you. This thing on the other hand is a really complex mix of all those toxins the Cuboza makes naturally. The mixture is so complex that it's nearly impossible to create an antidote. I had to travel all the way to Tea Country to get them since they like warm waters. You don't have to thank me, I was glad to get you this going away gift. Judging from the area of exposure I'd say that you'll be extremely lucky to survive this. If somehow you manage to pull it off than you won't be able to use your hands ever again since they were the most effected. The toxin will destroy the muscles and blood vessels in your arms leaving them useless for the rest of your life," Naruto looked at the Snake sannin with the corner of his eye, "…if you live that long."

"I'm sorry it had to come to this Orochimaru but your sick ambitions led you to this pathetic end." Sarutobi spoke up, "It's time I fixed the mistake I made al those years ago." Sarutobi began making hand seals for a powerful Katon jutsu to finish off his one time prized student. Just as the Sandaime finished the long chain of seals Orochimaru managed to throw an exploding tag with his already stiffening hands between himself and his opponents and called out to his men.

"Sound Four retreat now." He called out.

He jumped to them and Sakon and Jiroubou helped him evacuate while Kidoumaru stopped the pursuing ANBU with his chakra enhanced webs.

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**Authors Note:**

**Yay another chapter finished FINALLY!!**

**Sorry it took two weeks but I got sick** **before Easter and the Easter Bunny was supposed to bring me my medicine. Unfortunately there was snow in the area I live in and the Bunny had his schedule full so he asked Kakashi of all people to fill in for him in East European deliveries; You can probably guess what happened than right. The dumbass got lost on the road of life and arrived on Tuesday after Easter. Since than I was working on this chapter and decided to combine two chapters into one. The first about preparations and the fights and part of the second about the invasion and left out the Tsunade Arc for later. As for the whole Cuboza Jellyfish let me explain it like this. You've got to love the Discovery channel. I saw a documentary on Jellyfish killings and decided to use this to take out Oro-teme's arms and keep the Sandaime alive since I think it was really stupid to kill off people who could help Naruto get stronger. These Jellyfish exist and have such a kick-ass venom that currently is impossible for scientists to make an anti-venom but he can try to have Tsunade cure him or something. Canon sucks if you ask me; Did you see how they made the fight between Sasuke and Itachi? I can understand Itachi having such jutsu he does have the Mahgakyou but I don't believe Sasuke could make so many new jutsu in under 3 years. Canon is complete BULL!! **


End file.
